Stage Fright
by Dreamer852
Summary: Screaming Fans. One Famous Boy Band. When the company's boss decides to up their popularity, they are told they needed a new girl addition to IGNITE's name. What could they possibly end up with? "Remind me why I'm doing this again?" "Because, secretly, deep inside, you want to." "And this, is why I hate you." AU fic. A little OOC at times with particular people.
1. One Last Chance

**So, I had this idea pop into my head ages ago and I had to write it down. I actually didn't think I was going to post this, but I may as well, since it would be a shame to delete this. **

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail isn't mine! But all the things mentioned (like movie names and TV shows) are made up… and the lyrics are mine too! (This disclaimer applies throughout the whole story!)**

**Edit: 2nd of March 2014 - Thank you to Hairy Tail for noticing that mistake, so no, Natsu is a boy, not a girl (before it says, "Natsu-sama, be my girlfriend..") (so embarrassed) XD**

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"KYAAAAA! It's IGNITE!" a girl with hearts in her eyes pointed at the group entering a recording studio, causing many other fans to look over and squeal.

"Gajeel-sama! Look at me!"

"Jellal-sama! Kya, you're so hot!"

"Gray-sama! You're the best!"

"Natsu-sama! Be my boyfriend!"

The squeals of girls were heard from all the way down the street and many flashes of cameras went off, trying to capture the world wide famous band.

As the doors closed behind the group, their manager – Erza came up and ushered them towards the studio.

"You guys have a busy schedule today, so let's get this over and done with in one take." She said sternly, pushing the four into the large soundproof room.

Erza and Loke stood on the other side as they set up, Natsu giving the thumbs up to start recording. Loke put on the headphones and fiddled with the controls before giving thumbs up back.

Gajeel then started off the beat with the taps of his drum sticks before rocking out the upbeat tune, Gray and Jellal playing their respective instruments with him.

Nastu – the lead guitarist and singer – started playing chords before taking a deep breath and singing their promotional song that was going to be used in the upcoming movie 'One Last Chance'.

_Where are you now  
>I don't know why<br>But somehow, I managed to lose you_

_Give me some time  
>Don't run away<br>If you fall, I will catch you_

_I honestly, need you right here beside me_

_Hey, hey, hey, hey  
>Do I get one last chance?<br>Hey, hey, hey, hey  
>Cause I would follow you, wherever you go!<br>Come. On. Now. Yeah!  
>Don't be a child<br>You know that I. Will. Miss. You.  
>Give me one last chance.<em>

_You left the back door, wide, wide open  
>I heard you scream and shout<br>'Please think this though'_

_After hours of drinking  
>I finally figured it out:<em>

_I honestly, need you right here beside me_

_Hey, hey, hey, hey  
>Do I get one last chance?<br>Hey, hey, hey, hey  
>Cause I would follow you, wherever you go!<br>Come. On. Now. Yeah!  
>Don't be a child<br>You know that I. Will. Miss. You.  
>Give me one last chance.<em>

_Do I get one last chance?  
>Come on!<br>Give me one last chance  
>(mmm, na na, na na, woooh, oh, oh, oh yeah!)<em>

With a final strum of the guitar, the group let out a deep breath and smiled, looking at Loke who returned the big smile and clapping.

The four boys whooped and cheered, their happiness circling throughout the studio as they exited the soundproof room.

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_**:. Time skip – a few months later .:**_

"Lu-chan!" Levy called out to her blonde friend who was currently slouched down on the park bench.

"A-ah Levy-chan." Lucy looked up and smiled, giving a small wave.

"Is anyone else here yet?" Levy plopped herself down next to Lucy who shuffled awkwardly.

"Nope." Lucy shrugged, "Juvia probably lost track of time fantasising over… who was it again?"

"Gray-sama… from IGNITE remember?" Levy reminded her of the band currently placing the top charts and little hearts grew in her eyes.

"I don't get it, they're just a bunch of stuck up, snobby guys." Lucy rolled her eyes, pulling down the sleeves of her jumper so they covered her hands.

"Hey! That's my favourite band you're talking about! Juvia's too!" Levy pouted at Lucy's dismissive antics, Lucy had never really appreciated their music after all.

"Sorry…" she mumbled but got cut off when the other girls arrived.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Cana called, hauling Juvia behind her.

"It's fine… do you think one of you could pay for me today?" Lucy pleaded.

"You got fired again didn't you?" Cana's eyebrow rose and she took a swig out of a metal bottle.

"You know I can't do anything in public… it took me a whole year to act normal around you guys…" Lucy's muffled voice came from within the depths of her jumper.

"I-it's okay, I brought extra money." Levy patted her best friends shoulder reassuringly.

"Juvia did too." Juvia piped up.

"But seriously, this is the seventh job you've been fired from in the past four months!" Cana exclaimed, her voice slurring in the slightest.

"I know!" Lucy wailed, catching other people's attention.

Quickly covering her mouth, the three other girls hauled Lucy to her feet and dragged her across to the movie theatre.

A long line of girls flowed out of the building, waiting to buy tickets to the first opening of 'One Last Chance', a movie featuring IGNITE, Natsu being one of the main characters and the rest of the band, as his best friends.

"Ugh…" Lucy grumbled, "Such a long line, which movie are we gonna see anyway?"

"One Last Chance, of course." Juvia stated it as if it were the most obvious thing in the whole world.

"But that movie seems so sappy and predictable… bo-_ring_." Lucy dragged out the word.

"Hey! We're paying for you, so don't complain!" Levy poked her tongue out.

Lucy turned to Cana with puppy eyes, hoping her drunken friend would take her side. Sadly, 'lucky' Lucy seemed to have run out of luck when Cana shrugged and said,

"The trailer was pretty cool, I wouldn't mind watching it."

Lucy sighed and slumped in defeat as the four girls finally took their first step forward, closer to the ticket booth.

"This is gonna take forever!" she complained again.

"Of course! The movie is being shown in three of the theatres today, all of them starting in two hours." Levy and Juvia said simultaneously, they had been talking about it non-stop for the past month after all.

"WHAT?!" Lucy screamed, "You're telling me, you dragged my ass out of bed three hours earlier than the actual movie!?"

"Yup!" the three traitors nodded.

"Argh, and I could be at home watching re-runs of 'Minutes 'till Death' right now!" Lucy pouted and grumbled.

_**:. Time skip – after the movie .:**_

"I think I almost became deaf for a moment in there. Plus the fact I feel like I've drowned in a theatre full of tears." Lucy said, looking down at her damp jumper where Juvia and Levy had sniffled on, "I really shouldn't sit between you two when watching sappy movies." She gagged, glaring at the two bluenettes, who smiled back sheepishly.

"It was a good movie though," Cana slurred, "I mean when Natsu kissed – webrfji." Her words were muffled by Lucy's hand.

"Stop, stop, stop. No more romance and whatnot from you guys. Thank you very much!" Lucy crossed her arms, catching a glimpse of her watch.

"Oh no! I'm going to be late for my job interview… wish me luck!" she called, waving goodbye while running off.

"Knowing her, she'll get the job because she seems so nervous and innocent then get fired in a few weeks when she breaks a few too many plates and messes up the orders." Cana said, remembering the time she incidentally went to the same café that Lucy worked at.

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"Laxus." The band greeted as their boss walked into the room.

"You guys… are my sole contribution to the company that earns me the most money. You're famous, on the top charts, and all the girls out there love you." Laxus said seriously, pacing around the room.

"What are you implying?" Gajeel asked, the others nodding in agreement.

"What I'm trying to say is, I want you to add a girl into your group. Preferably a singer. You know, just to get the boys joining your fan base." Laxus stopped pacing and turned to face the four boys and one girl, who were all sitting squashed on the couch, his arms crossed.

"WHAT!" Natsu jumped up from his seat, his fists clenched tightly together, "We record with female artists, isn't that enough?" he growled.

"But no boys will officially join if you don't have a permanent female with the band." Laxus stated, "The less fans, the less money."

"I don't care about the money. No, we don't care about the money." Gray spoke up, the others nodding with him.

"Doesn't Erza count for that anyway?" Jellal pointed out.

"She doesn't appear onstage though, does she? And she not… fame material." Laxus looked Erza up and down.

"Hey!" Erza protested, a dark aura beginning to surround her.

"I'm your boss, I can say whatever. Besides, I already know the perfect girl for you guys. She can't sing, but there's always auto-tune anyway. She'll be coming here in two days at 3 pm to meet you guys." And with that, Laxus walked out of the door.

"Auto-tune? No way in hell! We're not like that!" Natsu shouted after him.

Flopping back down onto the couch, the group sat in silence for mere moments before Gray spoke up.

"Laxus ain't gonna change his mind about this whole 'girl joining our band' thing, so we have to agree… just anyone without auto-tuning." He stated.

"But what are we gonna do then?" Natsu sighed, throwing an arm across his eyes.

"Easy, just find a better girl by tomorrow, right?" Gajeel suggested.

"Exactly… so… what are we waiting for? Let's go hunting." Gray took a few wigs off the counter.

"Wait!" Erza called out sternly, "We can't just go asking random strangers to sing for us."

"That's true… how about we hold auditions?" Natsu suggested.

"Hey guys –"

"But then all we'll have are fan girls dying to meet us." Gajeel huffed.

"Guys – "

"Then what are we gonna do! We only have two days!" Gray said throwing his hands in the air.

"GUYS!" the shout caused them to look at Jellal.

"What?" Erza cocked her eyebrow.

"Look." Jellal pointed to an advertisement in the newspaper, "Its tonight at the karaoke bar across town."

"But it's already over…" Gajeel said, scanning over the paper.

"No, that was the boy's competition, the girls one starts in…" Erza checked her watch, "20 minutes!"

They all jumped up and quickly placed hats and glasses on while Erza went to call a taxi.

Jumping into the vehicle, they screamed at the driver to get going as he sped down the road.

% % % % % % % % % %

"So, Miss Heartfillia. Why do you want this job, and have you done any similar ones in the past?"

"U-uh… um I reallyneedthisjobbecauseIhavenomoneyotherwise." She looked down into her lap.

"I'm sorry, what?" the manager of the café looked at her.

"We.. l… well I've d-done jobslikethisallthetimebutIalwaysgetfiredintheend." She mumbled out again.

"You know what?" the manager sighed, "Work here for tonight and we'll see how it goes, alright?" he smiled gently at her.

"R-r-r-really? T-thankyousomuch!" Lucy looked up in surprise and exclaimed.

"Yes, yes, now go change into this." He held out a maid's uniform.

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"We made just in time!" Natsu cheered as they walked into the karaoke bar.

"Yeah, but only because we were speeding." Gray stated.

"Gihi." Gajeel smirked.

"Meh, whatever, we're here, so let check out this contest." Jellal said.

They all walked into the bar and were immediately hit with the stench of sweat and alcohol.

"So here are the rules!" the emcee announced, "the contestants must sing a song by IGNITE and will be given a score out of then by our judges. So give it up for our first contestant of tonight – Kimi Fields!"

Gray gave a low whistle.

"She's hot." He said as the other boys gaped.

"But can she sing?" Erza's voice cut through their fantasies.

"Hi, I'm Kimi and I'll be singing 'Flames to my heart'… Kyaa! Natsu-sama is the best!" Kimi spoke as the intro started playing.

_When I look around, all I see  
>Is the whole wide world, at my feet<br>No need to see the future  
>And the past is already gone<br>Somewhere there is a light  
>So hold on<em>

_And when the shooting star brings flames to my heart  
>I know I can't let you go<br>The desperate cries from being alone  
>Cannot heal the wounded soul<br>And send it on  
>The flames to my heart<br>Melting the ice cold_

_When fire and ice clash together  
>And the light overcomes the dark<br>When the stars in the galaxy  
>Come tumbling down<br>I'll be there, hold on!_

_And when the shooting star brings flames to my heart  
>I know I can't let you go<br>The desperate cries from being alone  
>Cannot heal the wounded soul<br>And send it on  
>The flames to my heart<br>Melting the ice cold_

_When the shooting star brings flames to my heart  
>I will never let you go~<em>

The girl finished the slow, hearty song and everyone stood in a stunned silence.

"Looks can totally be deceiving, huh?" Natsu hissed to his band mates.

"Yup, that was completely and utterly, death to my ears." Jellal nodded.

"Think you're ever gonna sing that song again?" Gray asked.

"Nope. But can't help it is Laxus puts it on the list, he only puts the most popular ones on there." Nastu shook his head.

_**:. Time skip – after all the horrible singing from the contestants .:**_

"They were all horrible." Gajeel groaned.

"No offense, but you can't really talk." Gray shrugged.

"Shut up." Gajeel snorted.

"Oi, oi, I'm hungry." Natsu held his empty stomach.

"There's a café over there." Jellal pointed out, just as the lights turned off and the last person walked out, locking the door behind him, "Or not…" he concluded.

"Let's just go back and order room service." Erza suggested.

"Fair enough" Gray shrugged and looked around for a taxi.

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"I didn't even get paid…" Lucy groaned, walking up the driveway.

She had gotten kicked out not even an hour after working at the damned café. First, of all, she'd never been told part of their uniform consisted of roller skates, and second of all, who knew she would puke at the sight of the kitchen after 'skating' in there to collect table 4's… or was it 8's, order. The kitchen was so shiny and bright, and filled with so many anti-bacterial sprays, who wouldn't gag?

She rummaged through her bag for a while, trying to find her keys. Becoming desperate, she dumped the whole contents of it onto her door step and kneeled down to search through the messy pile.

"Damn it. I'm locked out." She cursed to herself, slumping onto the steps. 'I guess I'll just have to ask someone if I could stay over.' She thought, pulling out her phone and calling Levy.

"Levy-chan? Hello?"

"**Lu-chan? What's up?"**

"I'm locked out…."

"**Again?!"**

"Uh… yeah… again. Speaking of again, I didn't get the job."

"**Awww. There's always next time… I'm guessing you're coming over to stay the night?"**

"Please… just until I can afford to get another key from the landlady."

"**It's fine, I can call the others over if you want."**

"Nah, it's fine, I'm dead tired anyway…"

"**Alright… see you soon."**

The tone sounded and Lucy put her phone away. Quickly stuffing everything back in her bag, she hauled herself up and made her way to Levy's, who unfortunately live quite a while away. Although Cana's house was closer, she was probably at some bar drinking her liver to death. And Juvia already had a roommate, so she didn't want to intrude even more.

It was already quite late at night, so the streets were empty except for the few passing cars. Feeling that it was too silent, she took a peek around to see if anyone was watching or listening. Satisfied that she was alone, she started humming a tune that she'd made up.

Although Lucy had never really sung before, lyrics suddenly popped into her head and she couldn't help but add it to the tune she was humming. Clearing her throat, she looked around once more before she softly started singing.

_I'm just a clumsy little girl  
>Living in a lonely world<br>Without a future  
>Without a dream<br>There's nowhere that I need to be_

_Time passes by  
>Without no light<br>Just the days going by  
>And darkness pulls me in<em>

_Have I lost myself?  
>Are the walls closing around me?<br>Am I drowning in a pool of shame?  
>People don't care<br>They don't see the walls they broke down  
>And now I have to build myself back up again<em>

She suddenly stopped, she'd run out of lyrics to sing, but a car had also passed her and suddenly pulled to a stop up ahead.

Five people suddenly stepped out and started making their way towards her.

'W-what the heck is going on?' she screamed in her head. She turned around and sprinted away, but the sound of multiple footsteps followed her.

"G-g-get away f-fr-om me!" she stuttered, her voice deathly quiet over the pounding of footsteps, no one even heard her. She pulled out her phone and flipped it open, trying to remember an important number. 'Argh, I've forgotten the number for the police at a time like this?!' she cursed her mental blank.

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><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<br>CHAPTER ONE :)  
>IF YOU FEEL LIKE WRITING A SONG AND WANT IT TO HAVE AN APPEARANCE, JUST PM ME. (And no offence if you want to have an actual song make an appearance. But I sort of want to keep the songs to mine (and hopefully some of your) imagination.)<br>R&R – THANKS FOR READING**


	2. A 'Happy' Song

**Minna! I'm back with another chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

**I have no beta reader, I proof read myself, so ther may be a lot of mistakes and such.**

**To Pandawaziri, yes, I wrote these songs myself (please don't judge) and thank you everyone for your support towards this story as well.**

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><p>The band sat silently in the taxi –minus the sounds of Natsu's grumbling stomach. The windows were wide open, letting in the fresh night air.<p>

Trying to ignore his stomach, Natsu looked out the window and saw a figure walking up ahead. Since his hearing was better than anyone else's and was on par with Gajeel's, he heard the soft voice that came out of the person's lips.

'Is she singing?' he asked himself recognising a girl's voice.

"Everyone… can you hear that?" he asked, pointing to the girl walking dangerously close to the edge of the road.

"Hear what?" Gray asked.

"Just shut up and listen." He hushed.

"She has a really nice voice…" Jellal said absent mindedly.

"You're right. We need her. Stop the car!" Natsu ordered.

The taxi halted to a stop and the five of them scrambled out of the car, making their way towards the mysterious girl. The girl suddenly stopped… looking at them for mere moments before running back the way she came.

"Quick, run after her!" Erza said, taking off her heels and throwing them off to the side.

The band all broke into a sprint, chasing after the girl.

"Why is she even running away?!" Natsu groaned.

"Maybe because we're chasing her like we're a pack of wolves hunting her down. Or maybe she thinks we're police cause she's done something illegal." Jellal pointed out, huffing.

"True." Gray shrugged, running faster, slowly catching up to the poor girl.

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Lucy held back a yelp as she felt a strong hand clasp around her shoulder. Stopping, she fell to the ground, the stranger losing grip of her.

The rest of the group suddenly came up and she scrambled back further.

"Hey, calm down." The first person took off his glasses and cap. He had messy, raven hair and deep blue eyes.

She shook her head furiously and stared at him wide eyed. He was extremely familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it.

The others around him took off their disguises too.

'Holy guacamole… i-it's those guys from the movie… who were they again?' she thought. Looking up at them in confusion, she tried to open her mouth to speak.

"W-w-w….." she closed her mouth, fuming at her 'stutter-around-strangers-disease'. Trying again, she spoke brokenly.

"Wh-wh-w-who a-are-y-y-y-ou?" she questioned and saw the whole group surrounding her, jaws drop.

"We're IGNITE. You know, they famous boy band?" one of them – the boy with a tattoo on his eye spoke.

"N-no… I-I dd-don't actually…" she frowned.

"What were you singing?" the pink haired boy asked.

"S-s-singing? M-me? No…." she tried to deny.

"No! We heard you." the pinkette said, then broke out into song,

_They don't see the walls they broke down  
>And now I have to build myself back up again<em>

"That was you, wasn't it? There's no one here but us after all."

"Idon'tsing." She blurted out.

"Yes, you do, and you can. We all heard you. Now, let's get straight to the point. Join us." The boy with piercing all over his face grunted.

"No." she said firmly, grateful she didn't stutter.

"Please… we're begging you." Lucy now looked over to the scarlet hair woman who stood with a desperate kind of look on her face.

"I… don't e-even know you g-guys… s-s-s-s-so, w-w-why should I?" she looked away from their menacing stares.

"I'm Gray, pinky over there is Natsu, tattoo guy is Jellal, piercing dude is Gajeel and that's our manager Erza." The raven haired boy spoke, partially annoyed at the fact that this girl didn't know IGNITE.

"I –" Lucy started but was cut off by the ring of her phone.

"**Lu-chan!" **a worried voice spoke, **"where are you, you should have arrived 5 minutes ago at the latest."**

"Levy-chan? I'm sorry, I'm okay, I swear. Just got caught up in something." Lucy glared at the five puppy dog faces.

"I'll be there soon. Gotta go, bye." She flipped her phone closed and stood up.

"G-g-goodbye… I-I'll beleavingnow." She pushed through them and started walking off.

"Hey! Wait! Please, just join us." Natsu ran forward and blocked her off.

"I-I d-don't have any b-business w-with you." She tried to push past him, but he held his ground.

"Please!" he whined, "we can't do it without you!"

"Natsu. Forget it, let's go. She'll never agree, and besides. Just look at her, we'll have to find someone else." One of them called out.

"But! We have a day. A DAY to find someone else!" he emphasised.

The group behind Lucy cursed.

"We'll give you money." Natsu tried.

"M-money?" she asked, interested.

"Yeah, heaps." He nodded vigourously.

"Is it r-r-really hard?" she asked, slowly accepting. It was very tempting after all.

"Nope! It's really fun!" he grinned. She considered it for a moment.

"D-do I get a trial?" She asked, curious.

"If you want! Here, meet us at this place tomorrow at 1." Natsu handed her a business card, "I gotta go! I'm absolutely starving!"

He quickly hailed a taxi and the others sighed and jumped in, zooming off down the road leaving Lucy standing there, staring at the small card.

"W-wait!" she called out after a few seconds. Realizing they were gone, she sighed and once again started trudging towards Levy's house.

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"Levy-chan?" Lucy peeped into the petite bluenette's room.

The small girl had fallen asleep on her bed with an open book lying across her chest. Rolling her eyes, she quickly left a note, leaving the house and making her way toward the address printed in large font on the card she had spent all night looking at.

"Ugh, I have no idea what I'm getting to… do I?" she asked herself, walking toward the entertainment company anyway.

Carefully dodging the people walking around the city for the lunch rush hour, she finally saw the big SPARK company sign up ahead.

She'd done some research that morning and found out that the founder of the company was a young girl named Mavis Vermillion, and the boss was now named Laxus Dreyar. He was big and buff, the kind of guy who seemed to like money and fame.

Sighing quietly, she entered the busy building, only to be greeted by the members of IGNITE.

"You really came!" Natsu said in excitement, while the others just nodded in appretiate.

"The boss wants you to sing so he can judge whether or not you'll be fit enough for the job… and don't you have anything other than those… baggy clothes?" Gajeel wrinkled his nose.

"W-w-what?! B-but I-I have severe s-stage fright!" she looked at them wide eyed, scared.

"How come you didn't tell us that earlier?!" Gray exclaimed.

"W-well, I thought I was just going to do some modelling thing or something." She muttered, amazingly only stuttering slightly.

"No way! We need you as a singer!" Natsu said desperately.

"O-okay, fine, I'll d-do my best?" Lucy became nervous, beginning to feel a cold sweat down her spine, "B-but if I h-have to do it, I-I w-want to wear m-my own clothes."

The group looked at each other.

"Better than nothing right?" Gray said sighing, causing the others to nod.

"We need to meet him in half an hour." Erza said checking her watch, "We should use this time to try and get… oh my! We don't even know your name yet!" she shrieked, causing a people to look at them.

"I- uh… I'm Lu-Lucy Heartfillia." She bowed down extremely low.

"Well then Lucy." Erza went straight back to business, "we should use this time to help you get over your stage fright."

"Alright, we can start with this. Every time you stutter, you become our slave for a day. Dressed as a bunny." Gajeel smirked.

Lucy opened her mouth to say something but then closed it and took a deep breath.

"Fine. As long as you cut out the bunny costume." She managed to say.

"Gihi."

"Great start!" Natsu said, grabbing Lucy's wrist and running off, the others close behind, "Now, let's go to the Spot so we don't catch attention."

"The Spot?" Lucy questioned, pretending that in her mind, she was only talking to her best friends to stop her stuttering.

"Yeah, it's actually just our personal room in this building, but we call it the Spot." Gray explained.

The group reached their personalized room and squashed onto the couch, looking at Lucy, who was standing in the middle of the room, expectantly.

After moments of silence Natsu finally spoke.

"Soooooo…." He drawled out, "are you gonna sing or what?"

"I would… if I knew what to sing." Lucy shrugged.

"Hey does that pause count as a stutter?" Jellal asked.

"Nah, she wasn't like; a-a-ah, g-g-gah, or anything." Natsu said robotically, causing Lucy to blush and the others to laugh at his imitation.

"How about you sing one of our songs?" Gray suggested.

"I don't know any of them." Lucy said bluntly.

"Figures, you didn't even recognise us yesterday." Gray pouted.

"What about that song you were singing yesterday, what's it called? I've never heard of it before." Natsu said, trying to recall if he'd heard previously.

"N-no, it was just some random thing I made up…" Lucy tried to explain.

"One day." Gajeel smirked, while Lucy realized her mistake and cursed inwardly.

"Sing it then." Erza urged, "We don't have much time."

"But it's not finished! And there are no notes or chords for it." Lucy said exasperatedly.

"Then make the rest up. It can be your debut song or something." Gray said.

"Fine…" she huffed, remembering the lyrics from yesterday.

Taking a deep breath, she started out shakily.

_I'm just a clumsy little girl  
>Living in a lonely world<br>Without a future  
>Without a dream<br>There's nowhere that I need to be_

_Time passes by  
>Without no light<br>Just the days going by  
>And darkness pulls me in<em>

She suddenly gained confidence and sung louder and clearer, her power house and smooth voice resonating throughout the room.

_Have I lost myself?  
>Are the walls closing around me?<br>Am I drowning in a pool of shame?  
>People don't care<br>They don't see the walls they broke down  
>And now I have to build myself back up again<em>

_Now I'm back on my feet  
>And was offered a chance<br>Could it be fate  
>Could it be destiny<br>Was it written in the stars?_

_Colours came to fill my world  
>With hopes and dreams<br>(Woah-oh-oh)_

_Now I've found myself  
>The walls opening to freedom<br>He came to pull me out of this lonely world  
>And now there's someone who cares<br>They saw the walls that were broken down  
>And now….<br>AND NOW  
>These walls. Are. No. Longer. Needed.<em>

Lucy belted out the second last line, and then ended in a soft note in her voice.

The room was silent and Lucy fidgeted nervously.

"If I'm going to join the band, I need a less depressing song, don't I?" she said.

The boy's and girl we're about to tell her it was great and that it was okay when Lucy cut them off.

"Wait! How about this?" Lucy said, taking another deep breath.

_Fire, fire, burning my heart  
>The love you make me feel<br>Don't let me go  
>You are my world<br>You see, you're the light inside of me_

_You bring me sunny days  
>My heart breaks when you're away<br>I need your hand held in mine_

_Tears shed of happiness  
>Going out to my favourite places<br>I do what it takes to make it right_

_(Yeah!)  
>Fire, fire, burning my heart<br>The love you make me feel  
>Don't let me go<br>You are my world  
>You see, you're the light inside of me<em>

She suddenly stopped.

"Keep going." Erza said.

"I can't think of anymore." Lucy groaned, falling to her knees, but jumped when there was a knock at the door.

"Crap! It's Sparky (the nickname Gajeel gives Laxus, the company name is SPARK after all)!" Gajeel grunted as the door slowly swung open.

The bulky man stepped in and they all greeted (minus Lucy) him

"Laxus." They all said.

The man merely spared them a glance and the room fell into silence as he looked Lucy up and down.

"Get out." He sighed after a while, pointing to the door.

"E-eh?" Lucy said as Gajeel grumbled 'two days' under his breath.

Laxus turned to look at the band.

"Seriously, out of all the presentable girls, you pick her?! Even Erza's better than that." He growled.

"Hey!" Erza exclaimed as Lucy's face fell and she huddled up into a ball.

"Oi, don't insult Luce like that!" Natsu noticed the blonde's reaction.

"Yeah, she's probably the best girl who'd ever join our band." Jellal contributed, and then added under his breath so no one heard, "Unlike any other slutty fan girl that you'd pick. At least she dresses decently compared to how some other chick dresses that makes you horny."

"I don't care! No one will like her if she doesn't have looks." Laxus continued ranting.

"At least give her the chance to sing." Gray reasoned.

"But she doesn't have anything yet, remember?" Gajeel hissed.

"Right. I knew that." Gray hissed back sarcastically.

"I already heard her. She's okay, but she doesn't cut the looks." Laxus snorted, "Give her a makeover or something, then you can come running back to me. But remember, you only have until tomorrow. At. 3. P. M. I have other things to attend to, call my secretary if you need something."

He walked out of the Spot, slamming the door behind him.

"I'm so sorry Luce." Natsu felt really bad for reeling her into joining and went over to comfort the blonde, who was still huddled in a ball.

"It's ok, this is the ninth job in the past four months and the second job in the past two days I've either been fired from, or haven't been accepted into." A muffled laugh came from the depths of her woollen sweater.

"D-did you just say your NINTH job in the past FOUR months?!" Gajeel exclaimed.

"That counts as minus a day. So now I'm only a slave for one." Lucy looked up, pointing out the fact that Gajeel of all people, had stuttered.

"I didn't actually mean it." Gajeel smirked playfully.

"I'm still doing it. I'll never break a promise, even if it costs me my life." She held up her pinky finger for exaggeration.

"Fine then, if you agree to do a makeover, then we won't make you a slave." Jellal said.

"I'd rather be a slave." Lucy said, looking dead serious.

"O-kay… you do realize as our slave we'd make you do it anyway?" Natsu smirked.

"Ugh, I hate you all." Lucy huddled up into her ball again and grumbled.

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><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<br>CHAPTER TWO**


	3. Unearned SPOTLIGHT

**Ni Hao, Konnichiwa, Bonjour, Hiya! Hehehe hope you enjoy this chapter, I had fun writing it. :3**

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"I am not wearing that!" Lucy yelled, trying to escape by hiding behind racks of clothing. Too bad Erza was pretty much tailing her the whole time.

"Not or never? Cause you could always wear it tomorrow when… you know, we bring you to Sparky?" Natsu commented holding up a slinky stage outfit.

"Please let me escape from this hell hole, I'll do anything… please!" she whispered, holding her hands and a prayer and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Oi! How 'bout this?" Gajeel held up a tight fitting bunny costume.

"No way! How the hell are you even finding these clothes?!" Lucy screamed, emitting a dark aura.

"You could wear nothing." Gray shrugged.

"Says the stripper." Natsu snorted.

"What did you say, flame brain?" Gray asked head butting Natsu.

"Stop fighting! We have important things to do here! Unless you want Laxus to bring that whore into our band!" Erza screamed, needing to blow off some steam.

"A-aye!" the two embraced each other closely, then realized and shoved them off each other and ran off, disappearing into the many racks of clothes.

"Why don't you look for something to wear yourself?" Jellal, who had been standing there quietly, suggested.

"I pick what I'm wearing right now." Lucy pointed to her baggy clothing.

"Something other than that. It's better than letting the others choose for you." Jellal sighed.

"Fine…" she caved in, walking off.

Erza followed after her, but not before giving a small smile of thanks to Jellal, causing him to blush profusely.

"So Erza, what kind of clothes are they going to call…" Lucy paused, trying to find the right word, "acceptable?"

"Anything but what you're wearing, formal clothes and business clothes… probably." Erza said, "But you should buy some formal dresses anyway. You'll need them to attend parties and such."

"I see… does that mean I can wear my super fluffy slippers and my favourite blue pyjamas?" she asked.

"No." Erza looked at her sharply, not sensing her sarcasm.

"Forget I asked." Lucy sighed, brushing her hand across a pair of heels, "But what about them? What do Natsu and the others wear?"

"Pretty much what they're wearing right now… except maybe Gray." Erza looked around, "GRAY PUT YOUR GODAMN CLOTHES ON." She spotted the said stripper and yelled at him.

"Well, I'm guessing I have to try these one first… so I'll be back." Lucy held up a small pile of clothes resting neatly in her arms.

"WHAT?! You need more than that!" Erza exclaimed and quickly rushed around the store, picking up articles of clothing and stacking them onto Lucy's pile and then pushed her into a changing room, closing the curtain and standing in front of it expectantly.

"I can't wear this!" a scream came from behind the curtain and Erza pulled it open to reveal a hunched up Lucy, "It's too revealing…" she quivered.

"Come on, just let me see. I'm sure you don't have that bad of a figure." Erza pulled Lucy up and studied her.

She was wearing a baby blue boat neck top which had sleeves running up to her elbows, flaring out loosely at the ends. The shirt ended just under her boobs, revealing a toned, flat stomach. She still donned her baggy jeans and old sneakers, being too embarrassed after only being able to put the (very tight) top on, her breasts almost popping out.

"You look like a wannabe skater chick." Erza scowled, stepping back out of the changing room, she quickly pointed to a few articles of clothing, telling Lucy to try those on, before closing the curtain on her again.

Inside, Lucy gingerly picked up the clothes Erza had pointed at, asking herself why she'd agreed to this in the first place.

Sighing, she quickly changed, feeling bad that Erza was still waiting outside. Casting a quick glance in the mirror, she grimaced at her reflection before pulling open the curtain, causing Natsu to look over from his conversation with Erza.

"You look… different." Natsu scratched the tip of his nose, then saw Lucy's embarrassed expression before hastily adding, "I-in a good way of course."

"I feel different." Lucy grumbled, looking down at the floor.

She had changed into a forest green tank top with a white leather jacket over it. She wore a black choker and a shirt navy blue skirt. Lastly, she had brown, knee-high leather boots on, with a small heel.

"Not bad, bunny girl." Gajeel commented, the rest of the band having come over.

"Great, we'll buy that. Try on a formal set too." Erza pushed her back into the changed room and smiled slightly in triumph. Turning back to the boys, she crossed her arms.

"Looks like, we have a new band member." She announced.

"But what if Sparky says no?" Gray said, ruining the moment.

"We won't let him… I'm all fired up!" Natsu cheered.

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"No."

"Why not?!" the band shouted.

"Because I already made my final decision yesterday." Laxus shrugged.

"But you said she wasn't coming until tomorrow!" Natsu whined.

In the corner of the room, Lucy stood quietly listening to the argument play out. She'd refused to take off the bulky jacket she wore, which is probably why Laxus had said no anyway.

Before entering his office, Lucy had complained the outfit was too skimpy and they'd made a deal that she didn't have to take off her jacket.

Flashback-

"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" Lucy asked.

"Because, secretly, deep inside, you want to." Natsu gave her a goofy smile.

"And this, is why I hate you." She huffed, "At least let me keep the jacket on. Without it, I feel violated… exposed."

"Fine, fine. But we're making you join no matter what."

End-

"Ah, here she is." Laxus cut her thoughts as there was a knock on the door.

"Here who?" Gray raised an eyebrow.

"IGNITE, why don't you meet Karen Lillica? She is your new band mate." Laxus smirked and leaned back into his chair.

"You have got to be kidding me." Natsu grumbled, looking at the greenette up and down.

Karen was probably your typical… whore. She was wearing the skimpiest clothes possible, her breasts almost falling out of her t-shirt. (It wasn't even a t-shirt; it was more like a bra… on top of another bra.)

"Some on puh-lease get me a coffee." She drawled out and a strange, whiny voice, almost as if she had a blocked nose.

"Uh, no-one is getting you a coffee. If you want one, do it yourself." Natsu growled.

"Ex-squeeze me? I am Karen Lillica, from IGNITE?" She glared at Natsu with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, and I'm Natsu Dragoneel, _LEAD SINGER_ from IGNITE." He said back sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Oh my gosh!" her attitude took a 360 turn, "Hi, I'm your new _FEMALE_ lead singer for your band! It's _SO _nice to meet you guys! Did you want any coffee? I'd _gladly_ go out of my way to get you some." She gushed.

"Sorry, but no. We don't. In fact, we'd like you to leave." Erza stepped up and looked at Karen with menacing eyes.

"And who – oh! You must be Erza Scarlet, I must say, I love your name, it totally matches your hair!" she now exclaimed.

"No one is joining our band, unless they can sing, slut." Gajeel crossed his arms.

"Well, duh, of course I can." Karen boasted, and then broke out into song.

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"I can't believe we had to agree to that." Nastu groaned, shuddering slightly.

"But it's better than no Lucy." Gray shrugged, slightly disheartened as well.

"Did you see the look on her face when she realized Lucy was even there though?" Jellal chuckled.

"Well, we have a debut song to write, so why not get started and get this over and done with?" Lucy suggested, secretly happy she wouldn't be the one on stage.

After a long argument exceeding one hour, the band and Laxus had come to an agreement that Lucy would sing and write the songs with the band while Karen would just be the cover girl, meaning she 'sang' at the concerts and earned most of the profits, but some would also go to Lucy, since it was only fair that Lucy earned something too.

"Fine, fine. Let's go." Gray said, leading the way towards 'The Spot'.

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_I've been waiting all my life to sing that song,  
>And the lights turn on with the crowd cheering me on,<br>I never said, let me do this all alone,  
>What I meant was help me along,<em>

_Say you talk the talk,  
>But can you walk it all the way,<em>

_I'm in the SPOTLIGHT! Hey!  
>Now don't get me wrong,<br>Come on lets IGNITE,  
>From dusk 'till the dawn,<br>And we'll rock on, and on, and on, and on,  
>In the SPOTLIGHT<em>

_Now I'm here with fire inside me,  
>A burning passion with no secrets behind me,<br>(Oh whoa oh oh oh)_

_Say you talk the talk,  
>But can you walk it all the way,<em>

_I'm in the SPOTLIGHT! Hey!  
>Now don't get me wrong,<br>Come on lets IGNITE,  
>From dusk 'till the dawn,<br>Cause we will rock, on and on,  
>And just let it go! (LET IT GO)<em>

_I'm in the SPOTLIGHT!_

"Perfect!" Lucy said, quickly scrawling down the last of the lyrics to match the tune they'd already made.

"Yeah, perfect to fit a stuck up girl like her." Gray snorted. He was leaning against the wall, arm crossed and a scowl covering his face.

"Well, all we have to do now is recording me singing it!" Lucy ignored Gray and picked up the sheet of paper, and then walked towards the recording booth.

Natsu quickly followed after her and helped her set up, while the rest of the band came in after her to warm up their instruments.

Erza and Loke sat on the other side of the booth and gave the usual signal. Since Natsu wasn't singing this song, he'd also ducked out of the room soon after the join the cake-lover and player.

"Let's do our best." Jellal nodded curtly, making Gajeel grunt and start off the beat.

Lucy, who was looking extremely nervous, took a deep breath and tried to sing when the time came, but no sound came out.

Choking, she started coughing, causing the microphone to make a sharp, shrill sound.

"Ah! I'm so sorry, my voice caught in my throat because I was so nervous. I don't even know why, I mean it's not like this is a real concert or anything, I'm just recording right? Karen is the one performing this onstage… I'm so sorry, and I said I'd try my best too…!" Lucy quickly rambled.

"It's alright… take two." Jellal sweat dropped.

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_**:. Time skip two days after Karen's debut concert .:**_

"Guy's quick! It's Karen-sama from IGNITE!"

"Think I'd score a date with her?"

"No way! She's always clinging on to Natsu in public and in photos. It's no surprise that the two would fall in love."

It had only been a couple of weeks after Laxus had been at a press conference and had announced the new comings of Karen Lillica joining IGNITE and only two days after her promotional debut concert.

A large amount of the male population had already joined the rapidly growing fan club and now it was not only girls fawning over the (now not boy) band.

Across the road, in a small café, sat Lucy (back to wearing her normal, oversized outfits) and her three best friends.

"Karen seems a little fake, don't you think?" Cana said, taking a chug from her alcohol.

"Yeah, you won't expect such a sweet voice from her, you'd think it would be a bit more raspy or something. You know? to match her looks." Levy nodded in agreement.

"I think she's fake too. I mean, if you look close enough, she clings onto Natsu, but she always looks like she's flirting with the others." Lucy chipped in, hoping she didn't seem too suspicious.

Erza had specifically told her not to tell anyone else about their connection, for one, it would blow Karen's cover and ruin IGNITE's reputation, but also, it would be bad if the word got out and press started chasing after her.

"Jealous, are we?" Cana teased.

"W-what? No way!" Lucy flushed, remembering every time Natsu had stood up for her in the span of three days.

"Juvia thinks she has too many fans for just becoming famous a few weeks ago…" Juvia frowned slightly, as if deep in thought.

"But then again, IGNITE was already famous before that." Levy said.

"If you think about it, Karen was probably added for boy fans, not increase the girls. Guy's have nothing to do with the band otherwise."

"Except for Gray-sama and the others." Juvia had hearts in her eyes.

"The press conference with Sparky in it was all over the news though." Lucy said absentmindedly.

"Sparky?" Levy raised an eyebrow.

"U-uh… yea… Uh, I mean you know? The company is called SPARK after all.. hehehe right? Get what I mean?" Lucy tried to laugh it off.

"I guess so…" Cana said, disbelief obvious in her voice, "Anyway, so did you get a new job or something? Usually you'd be begging us to pay for you by now."

"Ah, well no… Not really. I mean. I sort of have a job?" Lucy tried to explain.

"Did you finally find a job where you don't meet new people?" Levy asked.

"Uh, yeah. I ah… became one of those umm… mascots at the amusement park." Lucy stuttered.

"Really? Like those people who dress up in a costume handing out balloons to little kids?" Levy said in surprise.

"Juvia wants to know what you have to dress up in."

"A… a… a bunny." Lucy huffed, banging her head on the table.

"Ooh! Lucy's a bunny girl!" Levy teased playfully.

"Please don't call me that." Lucy begged.

"Bunny girl! Bunny girl!" her friends stated chanting.

"I hate you all!" she wailed.

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"So, like, I totes think that I should be on the front cover of my next album." Karen said, inspecting her nails.

"You mean, OUR next album." Nastu corrected.

"Whatever." Karen rolled her eyes.

"Any way, one of you needs to call Lucy in. A manager from PULSE's Entertainment wants you to write an opening theme song for their upcoming series that's going to be released on TV in a few months." Erza said, reading off her clip board.

"Uh, excuse me? But I'm right here, and you want someone who, might I say, ISN'T in IGNITE to write our songs? Even if she wrote my debut song, doesn't mean she performed it, and I got all the credit anyways." Karen exclaimed.

"You can sing!?" Gray said sarcastically dramatic.

"Well, duh! Why else would I be here right now? Of course, besides my ravishing looks." Karen flipped her hair across her shoulder.

"Oh that's right, you were sent out of the room when we made the agreement." Erza said.

"What agreement?" Karen faced the scarlet haired woman sharply.

"Your microphone was turned off at the concert." Jellal said.

"WHAT?!" she screeched.

"You can't sing. Lucy helps us write the songs, and then we record it… with HER voice. You're lucky enough you earn the credit and money, so if you want to lose all that, I'd make sure not to blow our cover." Natsu said in a warning tone.

"Bu- b- what?" Karen spluttered.

"You're just our cover girl. Ok? Lucy is the real star here." Natsu said, "So if I were you, I'd stay out of the way and stop acting like I'm the top shit here."

"Ugh!" Karen stood up and stormed out of the room, the door slamming behind her.

"So, back to calling Lucy." Erza said.

"None of us have bunny girl's number." Gajeel grumbled.

"And we have no other way of contacting her so – " Gray was cut off by Natsu who stood standing by the window.

"Ah, you see. That's where you're wrong, Ice Princess." Natsu ushered the group over and jabbed a finger towards a small group of giggling girls.

While the others were trying to recognise the group, Natsu had already grabbed a hat and sunnies off the couch and run outside.

"Oi! Natsu, wait up!" They called after him.

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"Hey! Luce!" someone called.

Lucy perked up and looked around for the owner of the familiar voice (and nickname).

"Over here." The voice said again, this time closer.

Lucy whirled around to face a poorly disguised man.

"Nat…" she started but caught herself in front of her friends, "Natsamune?" she quickly made up a name.

"Ah! Luce, what a surprise to see you here." Nastu said with fake innocence.

"Um, yeah, did you need something?" she blushed slightly.

"Hmmm? Now that I think about it… I do. I can see you're busy right now, so just give me your number and I'll call you later?" he peeped around Lucy and gave a friendly wave to her friends.

"Oh!" Lucy nodded understanding straight away. "Here." She said typing her number into his phone.

"Well, I'll be off then, see you!" he called rushing off again.

Lucy watched him leave and stood there in a daze until Levy pulled her out of it.

"Ne, ne, how do you know him? That's the first time you haven't stuttered in front of someone new."

"Uh… he's my co-worker? He dresses up as… a dragon! Yeah, a dragon. We hit it off really well on my first day." Lucy gave a high pitched fake laugh.

"Don't tell me you liiiiike him." Cana rolled her tongue.

"What? Never!" Lucy tried to deny.

"Looks like we're going to be engraving Bunny girl hearts Dragon on _that_ tree now…" Lucy's friends looked at each other sneakily.

"No! Anything but that tree!" she exclaimed, horrified, yet with a deep blush on her face.

"Aww, come on, why not? All girls engrave their crushes name on that sacred tree." Levy smirked.

"It's called the tree of love for a reason!" Cana exclaimed.

"Juvia wrote Gray-sama's name on it a long time ago!" Juvia cheered.

"It's never going to happen anyway!" Lucy cried, covering her face with her hands.

"A-ha! So you do admit you like him!" Cana said.

"Shut up!"

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><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<br>CHAPTER THREE :)**


	4. Phone Calls

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! :D :D Please review as well! This was really rushed, and I think it's sorta confusing….**

**PLEASE READ!**

**Also, at first it was going to be a NaLu story… but should I hold a vote for a Nalu, LaLu, Sticy, Rolu or 'none' ending?**

**Not sure, review your thoughts!**

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"Great! See you all later!" Lucy gave a cheerful wave to the band and left, checking quickly to make sure no one had seen her leave the building.

"Phew, I'm dead tired now!" Natsu exclaimed, flopping onto the ground like a dead fish.

"Jeez, you're in everyone's way now." Gray prodded the pinkette with his foot.

"Anyway, now we have our new song, we have to get Karen over and learn the lyrics; you guys are going to be singing it at the premiere." Erza said.

"Ugh, do we ever get a break?" the lead singer groaned.

"No, of course not."

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"Levy!" Lucy called out, waving at her friend.

"Sorry I called you out, I'll pay today." Levy said, looking crest fallen.

"Are the others coming?"

"Nope… we're going to the library café."

"Really?!" Lucy now looked worried, the library café was quite expensive, but it was worth it since they let you read the books there and offered great services and food. In fact, you were really well paid, and it would take forever to get offered a job there, since they go out and scout you, rather than you applying for a job there. But even so, Levy would only invite her to go there if something bad had happened to her.

"Levy, what's wrong?" Lucy asked, placing her hand on Levy's shoulder.

"I overheard my mum and dad talking about me…" Levy sniffled.

"Oh no, that can't be good." Lucy exclaimed. Levy nodded.

"They were talking about_ marrying me _off!" she sobbed.

Lucy's eyes widened and she quickly pulled them into the quiet café. Sitting them down at a table she faced Levy seriously.

"Tell. Me. Everything."

There was a long, pregnant silence as Levy looked at Lucy in the eye. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears until she suddenly smiled.

"Gotcha!" Levy cheered, laughing loudly and earning a pointed glare from one of the waiters.

"Wait… what?" Lucy leaned back in her chair, confused.

"I was kidding, I called you out here to talk about _you_. I mean, what's up with you lately? First of all is when you left my house that day when you forgot your keys. You almost always try to never leave somewhere alone. And then second is that guy from the other day. He seems way too familiar." Levy spoke, throwing her arms around animatedly.

"H-huh? You're kidding me right?" Lucy tried to process everything her best friend had just explained.

"Something is up with you and you're not telling me! I'm your best friend here!"

"I suppose… but it's as I said, I got a job at the amusement park…" Lucy 'confessed'.

"Don't lie! I went there the other day and they said there was no 'Lucy Heartfillia' working there!"

"Ugh! I give up! I got offered a once in a life time chance, and I'm not allowed to tell anyone about it! Not even you! I'm sorry Levy, but that's just the way my job is…" she trailed off, hoping Levy would take pity on her and at least understand, or if she didn't… she could pretend to and just let the topic go.

"Oh come on! Can't you just give me one teeny, tiny clue?" Levy begged.

"I'm working as a… as _an _assistant for a few guys. That's all I'm telling you."

"Are they hot?" the bluenette looked at her slyly.

"Oh! Don't become all Mira on me. She tried to set me up enough in High School."

"Hey, you've never had a boyfriend before so I was just _implying_ that maybe it _is_ time for you to find one."

"Like you can talk!" Lucy stuck her tongue out, "You spend too much time fawning over Gajeel to find one!"

"Hey! That's Gajeel-sama to you! And I do not!" Levy retorted, "Also, since when did you even start to remember anything to do with IGNITE? You even contributed to the conversation about Karen, which is something you would probably complain about and try to change the topic!"

Lucy kept her mouth shut, not sure of what to say. Was she really that obvious?

Levy gave a sudden gasp.

"Don't tell me… the _guys_ you _assist_ are IGNITE?" Levy covered her mouth, unable to believe it.

"W-what?! Where did you get that idea? I- I- I mean, that would mean I have to speak to them face to face! You know I could never do that!" Lucy said, glad of her quick thinking.

"But that doesn't mean – " Levy was cut off as Lucy's phone started ringing.

Lucy reached for the phone, but Levy beat her to it. Snatching it off the table, she checked the ID and gave Lucy a pointed look before answering.

"Hello?" Levy put on an overly cheerful voice. Lucy sat there in an uncomfortable silence as she watched Levy talk over the phone. She was unable to hear the person on the other end, and tried to pick up the pieces from what Levy was saying.

"No, sorry." Poker face.

…

"Call later… Or I could leave a message." Poker face.

…

"Are you sure?" Slight frown of confusion.

…

"Ok –"

…

"I know, I'm sorry. But I thought I should since it seemed important." Poker face.

…

"Well, of course I'm surprised." Still no other emotion.

…

"No, I won't tell anyone." Nod of Levy's head.

…

"I'll ask Lucy about it though. I must say, I would never have thought something like this would happen to her, of all people." Levy raised an eyebrow, causing Lucy to panic mentally.

…

"Yes, good bye." Levy hung up and held onto the phone.

"Who was it…?" Lucy said, almost afraid to even ask.

"It was someone you should know really, really, well." Levy replied.

"L-like who? I mean… I know lots of people." The gears in Lucy's mind turned.

"Say," Levy changed the topic, "don't you think Karen's voice sounds awfully familiar?"

"Really?" Lucy kept a calm façade up.

"Yeah, someone from choir in High School maybe?"

"True…" Lucy mentally sighed, she hadn't been in the choir group, so maybe she was in the clear… for now, "That was a few years back though, so maybe that's why we can't remember."

"Maybe…"

"Anyway, so what was the call about?" Lucy brought the topic back up before Levy kept digging.

"Ah, from your Uncle."

"My Uncle? You mean Mest Doranbolt?" Lucy asked.

Levy nodded.

"Yeah, he said he's getting married soon."

"To who?!" Lucy's eyes bugged out. Mest had always seemed to be quite a player… and now he's finally settling down?

"Ummm, he said someone called Grandine, she has a daughter named Wendy?" (A/N: ok, ok, I know you might think… 'uh, weird' but I think Wendy and Mest have a nice father/daughter relationship. Hahaha, me and my retarded thoughts.)

"Wow, I met her a year ago, both Grandine and Wendy seemed nice, but I thought they had broken up long ago. Mest isn't the kind to actually get married. Not to mention, Wendy is adopted since Grandine can't give birth."

"People change." Levy shrugged, "Also, he said that Grandine wanted you to be the bride's maid. So make sure you're definitely free in four months on the 8th."

"But why not Wendy?" Lucy wondered.

"Maybe she's going to be the flower girl?"

"Maybe. Ah, well I'll have to call him later to discuss some things. Oh, and I need to think about their gift." Lucy caught sight of the clock, "Wait, Levy, don't you have work in a few?"

"Eh?" Levy checked her watch, "Oh crap! I do! I gotta go, see ya!" she slammed a few notes down on to the table and rushed off, leaving a light breeze behind her, and a shocked Lucy.

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><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

"3, 2, 1!" the cameraman called out. The light flashes several times as the band switched poses from time to time. Karen, being the only girl, stood in the middle, her arms looped through Gray's and Natsu's, while Gajeel and Jellal stood on each end, striking seductive poses.

"Alright!" the director called, "Now we're going to have a few other models come in for the couple shots since White Day is coming up."

Three other girls and a handsome boy emerged from the prep rooms and they quickly paired up as told. The charming brunette boy pulled Karen towards him, causing her to blush and the cameraman sneakily took a snap.

Gajeel and Jellal had similar girls, both being strawberry haired. One had sharp green eyes, her hair styled into a cute bob and an outfit to fit her petite body. The other with almond eyes, was much taller and had a fuller bust. The last girl, a blonde beauty, advanced towards Natsu, but the director held his arm out, stopping her.

"I also forgot to mention," He said slyly, "Natsu and Gray are sharing the same girl, a bit like a love triangle."

They nodded as Karen finished her set of photos and Jellal and his partner walked onto the shoot. Thank heavens Erza wasn't there since she was busy trying to contact Lucy, but other than that, the shoot continued smoothly. If only.

"Great job today guys! You're free to go!" the director called, satisfied with the photos.

"Wait! IGNITE! Before you go! Please perform a song for us! Please!" the girls called, looking on with shining eyes.

"Guys… Erza's not back yet – "

"Of course!" Karen drawled, batting her eyes, "We'll totally sing for you guys!"

"Wait… what?"

"PERFECT!" the director shouted in glee, "I actually was hoping for something like this! Draw the curtains!"

The drapes flew open and a set of drums, an electric keyboard, bass and guitar were set up, along with two microphones.

"I, uh… need to use the bathroom!" Gray quickly said, scurrying off – probably to find Erza.

"R-right! We need gray, so… I guess we'll have to wait." Natsu said awkwardly.

"Fine! Well in that time then, I'll perform an acapella for you guys!" Karen jumped up onto the stage and reached for the microphone.

"Ah, crap! I totally forgot Erza said we have an interview across town in about twenty minutes!" Jellal lied, smacking his forehead.

"Really? We better get going then… ha ha ha... Gajeel go get Gray and we'll find Erza… meet you at the car!" Natsu leapt forward and snatched hold of Karen's hand before racing off with Jellal and Gajeel.

"O-oi!" Karen spluttered, "We so do not have an interview! Erza said that we're free after the shoot!" she complained, wanting her time to shine.

"Well too bad! You're going home!"

* * *

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"Ah, crap, my phone's dead." Lucy held up her mobile and sighed, "Let just hope there no emergencies."

"Lucy." Someone said from behind.

"Argh! Crap Rouge! Why are you here? You scared the hell out of me." She shrieked.

Rouge was a victim of Lucy's clumsiness in her first… second… or was it fourth, job. The too hadn't hit off with a great start (cause, you know, spilling hot tea on a customer isn't the best of ways to meet).

"Hey, you didn't stutter." He muttered.

"Y-yeah… I've been working on that… I'm getting better I guess." She scratched her cheek, "So how've you been lately?"

"Same old." He shrugged.

"Yeah… not so much for me, I've gone through maybe three or four more jobs after I was fired from the one I met you at." She giggled, "But I've finally got a job that I haven't been fired from yet! I've lasted maybe a month or so now!"

"That's good." Rouge smiled inwardly, he was proud of her, after all.

"That reminds me, do you happen to know any stores that sell some nice wedding gifts? My uncle's getting married. Finally." She rolled her eyes, but her smile said otherwise.

"Sorry, can't help you there… my cousin might be able to though, I'll message you if I find something." He spoke quickly.

"Really? Thanks! And that's probably the longest sentence I've ever heard you speak!" she patted his shoulder playfully, "Alright, I'm off, I have some things to do. Bye!" she waved and ran off.

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_Talk to me, pick up the phone,  
>Walk with me, we'll take the throne,<br>We're in this together,  
>Now that we have each other,<em>

_And we can dance to the music –_

"Ugh, who the hell would make such a song?" Gray groaned, covering his ears.

Gray, Jellal, Erza and Natsu had gone out to snack at a cake shop after the photo shoot with Karen. Gajeel – much to his dismay – had been given the honours of making sure she made it home safely, since there were paparazzi and lustful fans everywhere.

"Umm, I think it was Flare from Raven Tail." Erza said, shovelling cake into her mouth.

"Is she the one that looks like a Barbie doll?" Natsu questioned.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure that's… Wait, who was it again?" Gray said.

"Either way, this song is completely and utterly horrible." Jellal chipped in; his arm snaked around Erza's waist.

"Don't you think her voice is really nasally?" Gray wondered.

"Looks like were all on the same page here." Natsu said when everyone nodded in agreement.

"So, when is the premiere of the TV show?" Jellal looked at Erza.

"The 8th in four months, I cleared that day so that you all have time to rest and get ready, since the following few days after that are pretty tight on schedule."

"Thanks Erza! You're the best, and this is why we rely on you!" Natsu gave her thumbs up and a goofy grin, "Is Lucy going to come?"

"Hmm, I think it's best that we don't tell her, or invite her to come. No one knows her and everyone would be wondering why she was there. It could cause suspicion."

"Yeah, you're right." Natsu looked sad, but nodded in understanding otherwise.

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"Uwah!" Lucy grunted as she face planted into a wall, "Now how the heck did I do that?" she asked herself, rubbing her forehead.

"You tell me." A voice spoke; it was cocky and had a smirk behind it.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w…" she gave up and looked away.

"W-w-w-what?" he mocked her.

He had blonde hair, but it was paler than hers. Striking blue eyes bore into her chocolate brown ones. There was a scar above his eye, but it made him look hotter, rather than disfigured.

"S-sorry I bumped into you, goodbye!" she bowed down as low as possible then turned and raced off.

"Hey! Wait up!" he called, recalling her from somewhere. A small piece of card floated down as he reached out to catch it.

"SPARK's Agency?" he read, "What? Is she famous or something?"

He almost jumped in shock when his phone started ringing. Quickly searching his vibrating pocket, he pulled out the device and flipped it open, placing it against his ear.

"Yo, what's up?" he said, smirking.

"_I can't believe I'm calling you, Sting, of all people. I've got girl problems."_ The voice on the other line sighed.

"Well, that's a first. I just met someone too." He thought of the blonde girl from earlier.

"_Really? Who?"_

"I got no idea; she just bumped into me then ran off, a real looker. What about you?" He shrugged.

"_No way, I'm only saying if Rouge is there too!"_

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll call him… meet up at the café in an hour."

"_Whatever." _The person on the other end grunted and hung up.

Sting pulled the beeping phone away from his ear and smirked, "Rouge's gonna be pretty surprised to hear this."

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><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<br>CHAPTER FOUR :)**


	5. Losing You

**PLEASE READ THIS GODDAMN AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

_**EVERYBODY, THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, SOPA (STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT) IS BACK AGAIN! YOU HAVE GO TO SIGN THE PETITION AND KEEP THE FAN-ANYTHING WORLD GOING! IMAGINE IF YOU WEREN'T READING ANY FANFICTION RIGHT NOW? WHAT IF I COULD UPDATE THIS STORY FOR YOU GUYS? **_

_**STOP SOPA, WE HAVE 3 DAYS AND NEED 42,000 MORE SIGNATURES. JUST SEARCH UP SOPA PETITION AND SIGN IT!**_

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><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<strong>

_Pick a card, any card,  
>I'd like to see you try,<br>Decide your death, or a lucky chance?  
>I promise I won't lie,<br>One minute, two minutes,  
>Your time is ticking,<br>I can keep a secret,  
>But do I really mean it?<em>

Lucy smiled as the theme song of 'Minutes 'till death' ended and she reached for the remote to turn up the volume. It was moments like this she enjoyed, being alone in her house, watching re-runs of her favourite T.V show in the dark, with no-one there to judge her. I mean isn't the cliché thing that girls hate horror shows but watch them anyway to cling onto their boyfriends? I mean, hello, there's an empty spot right there on Lucy's couch just waiting to be sat on (not that she wants anyone to).

Sadly, not even half way through the episode, a loud ringtone made her jump sky high.

"Ugh, people know not to call me at 9.00pm, so who is it now?" she grumbled to herself, running into her bedroom at top speed so she wouldn't miss the call.

"Hello?" she muttered, after a few moments of silence on her end, she pulled the phone away from her ear and hung up, "What. The. Hell. Was that?"

She kept staring at the phone, unblinking as she looked at the caller ID, she knew the number, yes, but that person had barely ever spoken to her before, in fact, it just brushed her off every time they saw each other. The only time they'd spoken was to exchange contact numbers, and even then, that was awkward.

Breaking her focus from her mobile, she tossed it back onto her bed and padded out of the room.

Picking up the remote, she turned off the T.V, causing silence to resonate in her house. Thinking for a moment, she walked back into her room and quickly called someone she could rely on.

"Rouge? Hello?" Lucy asked timidly.

"_Lucy? Something wrong?"_ he picked up almost instantly. She could hear loud cheering in the background and then a few curse words.

"Umm, sorry, did I call at a bad time? I- I could call later you know…" a shriek was heard and Lucy pulled the phone away from her ear to prevent potential hearing loss, "Uh… where exactly are you right now?"

"_I'm at a bar." _He answered simply.

"A bar?" she said incredulously, as far as she remembered, he couldn't stand bars, let alone alcohol in general. There was a loud rustling noise on the other end.

"_Hey babe, what 'cha doin', talking to ma sexy man?"_ a slurred man's voice came over the line, Lucy could practically smell the alcohol coming from him, but that was the least of her worries.

"W-what?" was Rouge gay? Lucy thought.

"_W-w-w-what?"_ the man on the other side taunted, she could tell he was smirking.

"I… uh, I'm sorry. I'll call back another time." She hung up and sighed heavily.

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"What did you say." Rouge asked seriously, snatching the phone back.

"Ooh, you're a feisty one, cous'. Nothing much, just a chick who may have misinterpreted what I said." The other boy shrugged and smirked sloppily, "and since when did you talk to girls? She hot?"

Rouge stood up abruptly, "I have no business here." He said coldly, "Don't drag me around next time when your brother's got problems and you two feel like getting smashed. Sting, we're 23, get yourself together."

"Aww, don't be a sooky." Sting whined, throwing an arm heavily across Rouge's shoulder, "I'm just here to have fun… loosen up a lil' and pick up a chick."

"Unlike you," he gritted his teeth, "I already have one."

"Really now? Care to share?" Sting sneakily switched Rouge's water with vodka.

"Never." He stood up and walked off, taking his drink with him.

"Sting! My best man!" his brother called him over.

"Rouge just miffed me." He slumped into a seat and pouted, "So, to cheer me up, tell me what your hottie is like. Let the wing man do his job." He nudged his brother hard in the arm.

"She's not hot." His brother slurred.

"Then why the hell you diggin' for her?!" he asked, after all, he followed after his brother; whores and more.

"Cause… she's hot?" he shrugged.

"Man, I think you're smashed as hell… we better get you home buddy, you're a goner for tomorrow morning already." He looked around for his cousin and found him in a drunken slumber at the other side of the bar, "Argh! Mother of god! Rouge was supposed to drive!" he groaned.

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

Lucy couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. Ever since receiving that call the night before, she'd become paranoid.

Picking up her bag and keys, she left her home for a short walk to think. Humming lightly, she stepped out on to the street. Locking the door behind her, she walked down the street towards the park, one of her favourite places in town. On the way, se walked past the agency and she stopped to look up into the windows of the sky scraper.

Since it was in the middle of the day, the streets were filled with adults running around to grab some lunch, and Lucy was knocked around for a while. Giving up, she huffed and turned away, only to be confronted with a short, chubby man.

"Hello there!" he said cheerfully.

"I – uh… hi?" she took a small step back from the energetic man.

"I couldn't help but just notice you looking up at my agency. I'm actually scouting for new talents at the moment. Do you want to become a star?"

"S-sorry, n-no. I have no interest…" she stuttered _'His agency?' _she thought confused.

"Do you know much about this agency?"

"Well, no…." she replied slowly, she hadn't really needed to know except for where particular rooms were.

"Well then, you must not know that I'm Laxus Dreyar, head of SPARKS entertainment company." He pulled out a small business card and handed it to her.

"Oh really now?" her eyebrow perked up in disbelief. Laxus Dreyar? Him? She felt a sudden rush of anger now stood to her full height, which was at least a head or so taller than the imposter.

"Oh, such a pity! I was hoping that would work since everybody knows a name like mine." He held a hand to his heart in fake pain.

"Well, sorry, I have no interest in joining a business like yours." She smirked.

"Isn't that a first then? Are you sure? It's only $10,000 for a 2 year contract deal." He placed his intertwined fingers across his protruding stomach.

"I've already said no. If you don't stop, I'll call the police." She reached toward her bag threateningly.

"Don't be silly." He snorted, "As far as I know, I've been funding the police force for a while now."

Sighing, she pulled her phone out. Those were all facts you'd find on the internet, everybody knew that. Quickly dialling a number Natsu had given to her, a small force of police that picked up SPARKS agency calls immediately, she waited for about 2 seconds before they picked up.

"H-hello?" she said as soon as a deep voice answered.

"_Is something wrong up at the agency?"_ the man spoke with such authority Lucy almost retaliated away from her phone.

"Ah, yes… we have an imposter pretending to be the president right in front of the premises, um, yeah, he's short and fat… and running away right now." She smiled into the phone.

"_On it, Miss, thanks for the update."_ The called disconnected and almost 10 seconds later a few men dressed in police uniforms rushed out from the building next to SPARKS'.

She stood there a moment longer, proud of her progress in not stuttering.

Noticing the crowds on the street were getting thicker, she ducked into the building and took a deep breath. She walked over to the reception and took a small plastic cup and filled it up with water. The receptionist gave her a small glare and Lucy smiled awkwardly.

Quickly downing the rest of her drink, she tossed the cup into the nearby trash can and turned around… only to be met with a sweet, angelic smile.

"It's been a while… hasn't it, Lucy?" the person held her hand up in a small wave.

The blonde's jaw dropped. The whole time, one of her friends worked here?!

"M-Mira!? You're a model at SPARKS?!" she exclaimed, wide eyed.

"Yep, I've just come back from the world fashion tour." Another sweet smile.

"I… uh… welcome back then." She tried to smile back.

"So, what are you doing in the agency?" Mira leaned forward, her gossip mode on, "Do you work here now hmm? I'm sure I would've at least been notified."

"Ah, no! Me? Famous?" she tried.

"Really now? Then why are you standing in the agency? There are security guards outside you know…" she said slyly.

Lucy sighed, Mira was just too smart, and of course she'd never be able to keep it from her.

"I'm the janitor here now." Lucy shrugged.

"Hmmm… I don't believe you." Mira tapped Lucy's nose and the smile disappeared, "Now, tell me the tr–"

She was cut off when there was a loud call.

"MIRA!" the voice came closer and soon the white haired beauty was knocked over onto the ground.

"Karen?" she exclaimed, "You're the new member of IGNITE… right?"

"Well, yeah, duh. I'm fame material!" she smiled… but it wasn't a nice one as she caught sight of Lucy standing behind the model, "And, what are you doing here?"

Lucy blinked as Mira looked at the two girls in surprise, "You two know each other?"

"Yes." Karen growled while Lucy answered with a short "No."

"Do you, or do you not?" Mira looked absolutely confused at this point.

"Actually… I lied before… I'm Karen's personal manager." Lucy cut in quickly.

"Wait, what?" Karen shouted, "You'd be fired within two seconds if you were my manager!"

"Then why am I still here?" Lucy countered.

"Oh, shut up will you! At least I'm famous!"

"Only because of me!" Lucy spilled out, furious. She hadn't even realized half the things she'd said.

"Because of you?!" Mira cut in, "Why you?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Well… that's because…" Lucy covered her mouth… realising her actions.

"Because. She's my manager… duh." Karen covered up. No way was she letting go of her fame by Lucy saying she did everything but be the cover girl.

"Oh… I see now." Mira nodded.

"Strauss!" someone called out, "we need you over here, we're about to leave for the interview."

"Coming Freed!" she called back to her manager, "Well then, best of luck. Let's catch up one day, Lucy."

As the model walked off, Karen turned to face Lucy menacingly.

"What's your connection with Mira-sama." She jabbed a finger at her.

"T-that's none of your business." Lucy back away slightly, scared of the intimidating aura.

"Well, don't talk to her." She huffed then spun on her heel to walk away, a few steps later she stopped to glare at Lucy again, "Oh and, that demon manager girl needs you for MY new single. It better be good."

"Says the girl with no musical talent whatsoever…" Lucy snorted once Karen disappeared.

Turning back to the reception, she rung the small bell which let out a small ring and the receptionist turned around in her chair to glare at her again.

"Can you call Erza Scarlet down?" she asked. The woman at the counter gave a crisp nod and looked through a small stack of papers before dialling a number.

"She'll be down in two." She told her, and then turned back to her waiting computer.

True to her word, IGNITE's manager was down in exactly two minutes.

"Lucy! Thank heavens you're here. The press have been asking for 'Karen's' next new hit single and they need it in 4 hours! I really hope you've got a song ready because we don't have much time. Jellal and the others are already here, we need to go!"

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

_I wanna spread my wings and fly,  
>Falling feathers cloud the sky,<br>And as my fingers run over the keys,  
>I say,<br>What's it like to be free?_

_I left a wish on my window sill,  
>Just couldn't let it go,<br>One thousand paper cranes,  
>Can you count it once more,<br>And I wanna know,  
>What's it like to be free?<em>

_And how can I believe,  
>That it filled the emptiness inside of me,<br>What's it like to be free?_

_I wanna spread my wings and fly,  
>Falling feathers cloud the sky,<br>And as my fingers run over the keys,  
>I say,<br>What's it like to be free?_

_Just help me break down these walls,  
>Unlock this door of the cage,<br>Let me dance with those cranes,  
>Before I dive too deep,<br>Because,_

_I wanna spread my wings and fly,  
>Falling feathers cloud the sky,<br>And as my fingers run over the keys,  
>I say,<br>What's it like to be free?  
>I wanna spread my wings and fly,<br>Falling feathers cloud the sky,  
>And as my fingers run over the keys,<br>I say – I say,  
>What's it like to be free?<em>

Lucy let out a long breath and took off her headphones, looking over at Loke who gave her a thumbs up in return. With a sigh of relief, Lucy walked out of the recording studio and flopped onto the ground.

'And I went out for a walk to relieve my stress.' Lucy thought, sighing.

"That was good, Lucy." Gray commented as the rest of the band walked out of the studio.

"Thanks." She smiled and took the hand that Gray hand offered her to stand up.

"Nice lyrics… for a bunny girl like you." Gajeel smirked.

"Shut up." Lucy glared, "Not like you could write a song like that in five minutes!" she snapped.

"Sure I could." He said.

"No! Everyone, block your ears!" Natsu yelled as Gajeel took a deep breath.

* * *

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"Thanks for your hard work today!" Levy's manager called as she left her work place.

"You too! I'll see you on Tuesday!" Levy called back.

Humming happily, she walked down the road and turned onto the main street. Looking through the glass doors of her favourite entertainment company, her eyes widened as she saw her idol talking with his manager, Erza Scarlet, who was known as almost a she-devil for her menacing aura when she woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

'Wait… is that…' he eyes widened even further when a particular person turned around…

"Levy? What are you doing here?" Levy turned around to find her blonde friend standing in front of her, holding multiple take away bags.

"I- wha- Is it just me… or is that…" Levy pointed through the glass doors.

"Yeah!" Lucy nodded excitedly, "I was asked to get some food, and she said she'd bring some friends with her." She lied, the food had been for the band, but it was okay to share.

"Really, well… say hi for me hey? I have to rush home…" Levy said, actually hoping Lucy would inver her to join.

"Alright… I have to go too, they're waving me over…" Lucy answered quickly before walking into the agency.

'Lucy… you've changed…' Levy thought, watching her friend walk away. Sullenly, she continued to walk home, thoughts of losing her best friend whirling around her head.

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><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<br>CHAPTER FIVE**

**Hiya! (Not being overly bias or anything but…)Thanks to Littlest1 – I'd like to kneel down to your review; you're right, I should focus on the story itself and then establish the bonds between each pairing. But also, thanks to everyone else for your opinions, and I'll definitely keep it in mind until the time comes. :)**

**AND SIGN THE FREAKIN PETITION…!**


	6. Wedding Song

**Yippie! Ima back!**

**This chapter will have a slight time skip in the middle, so this is pretty much the wedding chapter. Oh and, I didn't want to go too much over my 3,000 word limit, so I sorta am cutting the chapter in half...**

**Let's get straight to the point!**

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"Mest, you there?" Lucy twiddled with her phone charm that Mira had given her from one of her trips.

"_Yo? My niece? What's up?" _his voice came through the phone speaker.

"Levy told me you were getting married." The blonde smiled, talking in a sing-song voice.

"_You bet it. Grandine said she's going dress shopping tomorrow, you better be free."_ Mest said.

"Sure." Lucy grimaced slightly, she'd never been a big fan of dresses, but judging from the one time she'd met her uncle's fiancé, she'd most likely make a good choice, "Are you sure that she wants me as her bride's maid? I mean what about Wendy?"

"_Wendy's a shy one." _He chuckled, "_Standing in front of all those people would turn her into a tomato. Anyway, she's going out with friends, so it's just you and Grandine."_

"Alright… tomorrow what time?"

"_10 am sharp. She'll probably drag you along to pick the invitation cards and cake, so I'd say wear some good ol' walking shoes." _

"What?!" Lucy almost dropped her phone… just how long was she going to be shopping for? "That's too long!" she groaned, and then remembered something she'd been meaning to ask for a while. "Anyway… before I forget. What do you want for your wedding gift?"

"_A surprise?"_ He smirked.

"Ugh," she flopped back on her bed, "You're no help." She hung up on him and sighed.

Recently, Levy had been avoiding her, they were slowly drifting apart, and she now had no one to really open up to.

"Levy, what's bothering you…?" she whispered to herself.

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"How about this red one?" Grandine held up a silk dress with white beads at the hem in the pattern of flaming swirls.

"Nice… but not my style. Red doesn't suit me… or purple, or orange… or purple… maybe just black, white or gray." she shrugged, looking at the colourful dresses surrounding her.

"Okay, okay." Grandine chuckled, "How about… half an hour to both find a dress, and we're not allowed to see each other until then?"

"Sure!" Lucy nodded along, she was more excited about seeing Grandine in her dress. If she had to pick her own dress to see Grandine's, then she would have to do just that.

Smiling, her eyes bright, Grandine hurried off to the bride's dresses section.

Sighing, Lucy turned around to face the many racks of dresses. It was time for World War III; Lucy vs. the bridesmaid's dresses. That was one against thousands.

Flicking through the first few dresses on a rack, she quickly dismissed it since the design was utterly, horribly frilly. The second rack showed promise, but she pulled away, since the colours weren't nice. The third rack… never mind that. She looked away in disgust, who would want a mustard yellow bride's maid dress?

Twenty five minutes and ticking. Still no dress, about fifteen racks of dresses left to look through.

Her search was stopped when she saw the perfect dress. Strapless a-line, royal blue, a silver sequinned bow right under her bust and the skirt flowed out just above her knee.

Checking the size of the dress, she took it off the rack and hurried on to the dress room; three minutes, forty eight seconds and counting left until the two were supposed to show each other their dresses.

Deciding the quickly tie her hair up in a bun, she rushed out of the changing room barefooted, her clothes thrown on the floor in the stall.

"Grandine." Her breath was taken away at the sight of Grandine in her wedding dress, seamstresses ran around her, adding touches onto the dress like a cliché dress fitting scene in a movie, "You look perfect."

The said woman smiled as she stepped down from the podium,

"So do you, Lucy. You found the right dress… it looks great on you."

"So… ready to get fat on cakes?" Lucy giggled, practically imagining Erza's jealousy.

"Who wouldn't be?" Grandine laughed along with her as she ushered her away to change back into her street clothes.

Soon they were changed back and heading out for the perfect cake.

"Oh, and for the invitations, what about beige with gold lining." Grandine said.

"Perfect." Lucy agreed not even knowing what beige was, "anyway, so about the cakes…" her stomach grumbled.

"I'm thinking red velvet or vanilla sponge…" Grandine chuckled, naming fancy cakes.

"Have you ever tried strawberry shortcake?" Lucy suggested.

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_**:. Time skip – 3 months .:**_

"Natsu, Gray, Gajeel and Jellal!"a well-dressed Erza almost broke the door down, banging on it, "We have to go. Now!"

It was the day of the celebration of the new T.V show 'To retreat'. IGNITE had to be there on the dot to perform ten minutes after arrival time.

"Yeah, yeah, we're ready, don't get your panties in a twist." Gray walked out, for once fully clothed.

"Well, we have to get going." Erza walked briskly to the elevator and pressed the down button.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Natsu pumped his fist.

"Calm down… we have a four and a half hour car ride to get through." Jellal sighed, already feeling a headache coming along.

* * *

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"Wendy, you nervous?" she smiled down at the younger girl in her white dress and a basket full of flowers.

"O-of course." She said shyly, shifting from one foot to another.

"Well you know what? Something my friend once told me to stop being nervous all the time. Pretend everyone is something you find funny." She grinned, "Look, I've got to get out there, so, good luck hey? Guess this makes you my cousin." She waved and quickly walked away. She didn't know who her partner was, but apparently he knew Grandine.

Walking around the corner, she came face to face with someone she knew. Some she knew all too well.

"LAXUS?!" she whisper shouted, trying not to be too loud in case someone heard her, "What are you doing here?"

"My Jiji is good friends with Grandine. You look nice, by the way. " He shrugged, peeking at her curves that she'd never shown him before. He soon quickly looked away, remembering the call he made in his drunken state ages ago.

"And you never told me?" she said, a blush spreading across her face as she recalled the phone call from a while back. She looked away quickly with a huff.

"Well, there was never a need to." He frowned, was it really that bad he was the best man?

"Whatever…" she huffed again as the music started in the typical bridal tune and the two blondes linked arms and started walking down the aisle.

Looking around, she saw more familiar faces.

"Is that… why is Rouge here?! And that blonde guy… I remember him from ages ago!" she hissed to herself.

"That's Sting, he's my brother… and Rouge is my cousin." Laxus, who had heard hissed back.

"Oh…" Lucy nodded in understanding… so many people were here, and it was starting to confuse her. She was now starting to regret her choice of a wedding gift, but she would have to do it anyway, since she told Mest.

All the courage she had gathered up was now crumbling as she reached the podium and stood off to the side.

As Grandine and her father walked up, Mest stood there, itching himself not to turn around until he felt her next to him. After what seemed like hours, they finally turned to face each other as a bright red glow spread across Mest's cheeks.

"You look… beautiful." He mouthed as the priest, who turned out to be Makarov Dreyar, cleared his throat.

Lucy tuned out the service as she looked around at all the guests. She barely recognised anyone, but smiled shyly to anyone who caught her eye.

Vows were exchanged and the two became husband and wife. Everyone stood up to applaud and a few people cried. People came swooping in, clearing the chairs and setting them up elsewhere to surround the tables and make a dance floor.

People turned around and started chatting with one another or milled around and congratulated the newly wed. A new tune resounded through the room as Grandine and Mest had their first dance, at first it was sweet and slow, but then a smirk appeared on Mest's lips as the beat became faster and the couple pulled the people surrounding them into their dance, causing them to yelp in surprise then laugh afterward.

Service continued and nearing the end, Mest came up to her, hugging her tightly.

"Thankyou so much for accepting to offer to look after Wendy while we're on our honey moon." he almost screamed.

"I-it's okay." Lucy sweat dropped. One night, Mest had called her, asking for some advice on the best place to go for their honey moon. One thing led to another, and somehow, Mest had managed to convince Lucy to take in Wendy when they were gone.

"So, you ready for your song? I'm really looking forward to it."

"Sure." Lucy said, nodding.

Mest flashed a smile before heading up to the podium to make an announcement.

"Ahem, excuse me, if you could all just listen up for a second. My niece has decided to sing a song for us as our wedding gift, also dedicated more the Grandine, my beautiful wife. So please be nice and give her a round of applause!"

Cheers thundered around the room as she gingerly stepped up onto the stage and took the guitar Mest handed her. She'd decided upon this present a long time ago, and spent time learning the guitar long ago, even if it meant sacrificing T.V time.

At the back of the room, Laxus stood nervously, his thoughts were running, and his main thought was; I hope no one recognises her voice.

Back up on the stage, she sat on the stool that had been offered to her and cleared her throat.

"I, uh, this is a song I wrote to, uh, congratulate the newly-weds, um, my uncle gave me the inspiration for the lyrics and yeah… I'm gonna stop talking now." She gave a shy smile and started strumming the acoustic.

_It's been a long time,  
>Since I met your eye,<br>Your smile that gave me shivers,  
>And the day you tied my bow tie,<em>

_That time you fell,  
>And I helped you up,<br>That one night,  
>You caught me playing dress up,<em>

"Okay, that was with Wendy." He grumbled, nudging the sniggering people next to him.

_You are my other half,  
>You complete me,<br>Every day - I wake up beside you,  
>Just makes me dizzy,<br>And every time,  
>You give me little butterflies,<br>I know,  
>I just gotta marry you<em>

_The time you told me off,  
>When I drank too much,<br>That night you got lost,  
>And I came to pick you up,<em>

_You are my other half,  
>You complete me,<br>Every day - I wake up beside you,  
>Just makes me dizzy,<br>And every time,  
>You give me little butterflies,<br>I know,  
>I just gotta marry you<em>

_When you cry in the dark,  
>When you leave the bed,<br>When you're not there when I get home,  
>I feel so empty…<em>

_You are my other half,  
>You complete me,<br>Every day - I wake up beside you,  
>Just makes me dizzy,<br>And every time,  
>You give me little butterflies,<br>I know,  
>I just gotta marry you,<em>

_I just gotta marry you,_

_Da, da, da,  
>Dada, da, da, da,<br>Da dum_

For a moment there, Lucy held her breath, afraid to look up. Everyone was stunned and Grandine was the first the break out of it, tears rushing down her face. She gave Mest a big kiss before running up to hug Lucy.

"That was amazing, and I really do remember all those times, especially Mest playing dress up." Grandine chuckled and wiped a tear from her eye.

One by one, people started clapping for her, wolf whistles too, and Lucy let out her breath.

Laxus also let out a breath, it seemed they were both safe this time round.

Eventually, the excitement died down, and people went back to dancing and laughing, the snacks around the tables slowly disappearing as it was nearing the end and people were getting hungry.

Lucy felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around.

"Rouge." She smiled in greeting.

"Lucy. I didn't expect you to be here." He said softly.

"Mest is my uncle."

"I see. Do you want to –" his question was cut off when Sting walked over and pushed him out of the way.

"Hey there, sexy." He gave her a wink.

"Don't act all cocky, Sting. It's a wonder why you still haven't gotten your first girlfriend." Rouge sighed, rolling his eyes slightly while Lucy sniggered.

"Well isn't that great then?" Sting smirked and turned to face her, "Want to be my girlfriend?"

"I- um…" Lucy now took a step back, bumping into a hard, muscular body. Quickly turning around to say sorry, she came face to face with Laxus.

He was glaring at Sting and the boy took a step back, seeming to understand something. Laxus looked down to open his mouth and say something that seemed important but was stopped when Lucy felt a vibrate coming from her phone.

"Um, uh excuse me." She glanced at the three boys and scurried off.

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

Erza stepped out of the limousine first a permanent smile stuck on her face as almost instantly, camera's flashed and cheers were heard. The rest of the band tumbled out after her, grins stretched across their faces too. While the band – especially Karen – seemed to enjoy the moment, all Erza wanted to do was get out of there. In the back of her mind, she felt like something was going to go wrong.

"Let's go, we have to perform in five." She said curtly as they nodded and hurried into the grand building.

"Have you got everything?" Gray asked.

"Yep, just let me get the CD out." Erza nodded, opening her bag, after a few minutes of searching, Erza pulled out the CD and they hurried to put it in before the performance started.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Natsu exclaimed, seeing checking the writing on the CD, "That says 'Spotlight!' not 'To retreat'!"

"Argh, crap… I must have taken the wrong CD." Erza cursed.

"Guys! We're on in less than a minute and SlutFace over there can't sing!" Gray hissed, pointing out Karen who was standing with a crowd of guys, fawning over he.

"What can we do? It's too late to cancel!" Natsu said. People were already looking over curiously, wondering why the music hadn't started. The director of the T.V show, Kagura and her assistant, Milliana walked over.

"Are you guys ready or not?" Kagura glared, an intimidating aura surrounding her.

"Sorry, Natsu's not feeling well at the moment. So um, can we maybe postpone the performance until the end?" Erza patted (slapped) Natsu on the back a few times, causing him to double over and wince.

"Until midnight? Well, I'm not too sure, I think some people are leaving early. But, it will have to do… seeing him… in that condition." Kagura reluctantly agreed, "Milliana, go around and tell the others."

"Thankyou." Erza bowed down, waiting for the two to leave before hissing at the others, "Act normal. And tell Karen to stop flirting and the performance is postponed."

They all nodded and separated, going off to congratulate the other actors/actresses, like any other opening premiere they'd been to while Erza ran off to a private area to make a quick call.

"Come on… pick up!" Erza almost whined, there was a slight pause in the ringing until a voice came through.

"_What is it this time?"_ a hard voice spoke.

"I picked up the wrong CD and we're almost five hours away from the agency… that's a TEN HOUR drive! We had to postpone the performance because the person YOU decided to hire can't sing! And we have no way of keeping the secret unless a miracle happens!" Erza rattled on in slight annoyance and rage.

"_That's not my problem. Look, I'm busy at the moment, and it's my day off."_ Laxus, on the other line grunted and hung up.

"Ah crap, I'll just have to call Lucy myself." She grumbled, placing another call.

"_Hello? Erza? I'm sort of busy at the moment."_ Her voice came out as a whisper and Erza could hear loud chatter through the phone.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to drop whatever you're doing. Unless you want the secret out, you have to come to where we are before midnight! I can sneak you in through the back, but you have to come." Erza spoke, leaving no room for argument.

"_I can't just ditch my Uncle's wedding though…"_ Lucy whispered again, unsure if she should really be saying that.

"Please, it'll ruin our reputation otherwise."

"_T-tell me where you are, I might be able to make it."_ Lucy sighed, giving in.

"Great." Erza said.

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

Lucy walked back into the wedding hall, a frown on her face. Erza and the others were a two hour ride away it seemed and she could make it with plenty of time to spare… but what could they do if Lucy was even there, it's not like she was going to sing behind stage or any – oh. She almost face palmed as realisation hit her.

"Oi, blondie, what 'cha thinking about?" Sting's face appeared centimetres away from hers and she took a step back.

"Something work related." She quickly brushed him off and walked towards Grandine and Mest, who we're currently sitting at a table with Mest massaging her sore feet, "I'm sorry guys, I have to leave early. Bring Wendy over tomorrow morning on the way to the airport okay? Something came up at work and they need me. So, congrats."

"You? Work?" Mest snorted, but stopped when he realized she was being serious, "Alright… I understand. Good luck eh?"

The Mest and his wife stood up and engulfed her into a hug.

"We would rather have Wendy stay the night over, all her stuff is in the car after all…" Mest drew back and looked at her pleadingly.

"I- I can't… I'm sorry, I know you two want sometime alone. But I don't think my… boss would appreciate me bringing her." Lucy gulped, she was a sucker for puppy dog eyes and Mest had always been the best at them, even at the age of 32, "… fine. I'll make a few calls."

"Lucy, you're the best!" Mest exclaimed like a small child.

* * *

><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<br>CHAPTER SIX :)**


	7. Don't tell anyone

**Hey I'm back in black! (Not cool, but anyway)**

_**To the Anon guest reviewer who asked if I'll be finishing this story;**_** YES! I will finish this story. I mean, I have the whole plot and even half of the last chapter already written! Oh, and I update every 2-4 weeks, because I love writing, but I'm also lazy and take ages to update!**

**P.S I'm trying to add in more romance, but usually when I write… romance comes slow… xD**

**Not the best chapter, but I still hope you like it.**

**Also, when people Natsu and 'Karen' (ahem Lucy) sing together now it goes like:  
><strong>_Lucy singing__  
><span>__**Natsu singing  
><strong>__Both singing_

**So yeah, enjoy this chapter! ^_^  
>(OOC Wendy warning)<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<strong>

"Oi, you two!" a gruff voice shouted. Lucy and Wendy froze.

Two and a half hours ago, Erza had agreed to let Wendy come, as long as Wendy promised not to tell anyone about Karen and Lucy. Wendy, being the sweet girl she is, promised to cross her heart, hoped to die, stick a needle in her eye, if she ever told anyone.

"What are you two doing out here? If you're paparazzi then shoo! This is a private party. VIP invitations only!" The man stepped out from the shadows and revealed the typical pot-bellied security guard.

"Ah… no… um, you see…" Lucy struggled to find the right excuse for being caught. Erza would be mad if she didn't turn up at the back doors in less than a minute! "We forgot our invitations?"

The man raised an eyebrow and pulled out a clipboard, "What're your names then, hmm?" he started flicking through the pages, scanning for names that hadn't yet been ticked off.

"We're stylists. Karen from IGNITE's to be precise. She had a little accident and called us over here." Wendy held up her mobile phone for good measure.

Thank Mavis for her quick thinking.

"K-Karen? Y-You don't mean Karen Lillica… do you?" the man's eyes widened as he stuttered.

"Uh, yes! If something happens to Karen and her clothes, we won't forgive ourselves!" Lucy almost gagged at what she was saying.

"D-Do you think you could get her autograph?" he asked hopefully, "She has an amazing voice."

"Well, that all depends. If you let us in." Lucy sighed dramatically as Wendy eyed her, seeing if there was any reaction from the man's statement.

"A-ah! Of course! Anything for anyone who knows Karen!" The man saluted as he moved out of the doorway and Lucy dragged Wendy through.

Once inside, Lucy fished her phone out of her pocket to call the scarlet haired woman.

"Erza! We're at the front; we don't know how to get to the main hall. The guard caught us but we made it through." The blond whispered breathlessly as she flashed a broad smile to a waiter walking past. At least the two were in formal wear… although Lucy had to rip off some of Wendy's frills to their dismay. Otherwise Wendy wouldn't have fit in too well. Both had redone their hair differently as well.

"_Wait there, we have to perform in ten minutes! So make sure you're hydrated."_ Erza's strict voice spoke and then the connection was cut.

The two took their time to regain their breath and they heard footsteps coming toward them. Of course, it was Erza and she led the two to the backstage area.

"Lucy, take this microphone. You know the song." The said device was pushed into Lucy's hands as she stood behind the stage nervously.

"And Wendy, hi I'm Erza. It's nice meeting you, but I have a performance to run. And it would be nice if you kept quiet." Erza said rudely since she was in a hurry and walked briskly away.

Lucy covered the microphone with her hand. "Don't worry about her, she's nicer than she seems." She reassured the nervous looking Wendy.

The two stood in silence as a muffled shout was heard.

"And now, let's give a round of applause to IGNITE, who have helped us with a lot of the music for 'Retreat'." Kagura announced and walked off the stage as the band came on to set up.

A few strums of a guitar were heard and a small beat on the drums was played.

After a while Lucy heard Gajeel count in and the music blasted from each instrument.

Holding the microphone up to her mouth, she quickly checked to make sure it was turned on properly and started singing.

_Hey, girl, there was something on my mind,  
>I don't know but it just didn't feel right,<br>__**I couldn't bring myself to deny,  
>Couldn't wash away, all that doubt<strong>_

_**Find my way back home,  
>Feeling like I'm being followed, yeah,<strong>__  
>On the other side of town,<br>You face reality!_

_To retreat…  
><em>_All the way back to my past,__  
>Retreat…<br>__Wash away all the pain,  
><em>_**RETREAT…  
><strong>__I was homebound yesterday,_

_**Say, say, hey, did I get it right?  
>Know things might, not go plan<br>**__Didn't know what you were thinking,  
>How could you get it so wrong?<em>

_Find my way back home,  
>Don't you dare forget,<br>__**I wish I were so strong,  
>So I could hold you close!<strong>_

_To retreat…  
><em>_All the way back to my past,__  
>Retreat…<br>__Wash away all the pain,  
><em>_**RETREAT…  
><strong>__I was homebound yesterday,_

_**Run away, go back, which way do I turn?  
>I can't help, but feel like, you wanna watch me burn,<br>**__Fist fighting, can't hide it, I know it hurts,  
>And because, you left me, all alone,<em>

_**Turn away and retreat! **__(RETREAT)_

_Retreat…  
>All the way back to my past<br>__Retreat…  
><em>_**Faster than I ever have,  
><strong>__Retreat…  
><span>__Wash away all the pain,  
><em>_'Cause we were homebound yesterday_

Lucy sighed as the song finished. Sadly, it wasn't over for her, she hoped she'd kept up with Karen's lip syncing on the other side of the curtain. But it seemed to be okay for that moment as there was loud cheering vibrating through the hall.

Erza's head popped around the corner and she gave Lucy thumbs up. Lucy nodded thankfully in relief and Wendy just stood there, staring at Lucy wide-eyed.

She quickly turned off the microphone and clutched it tightly, breathing heavily as she finally regained herself.

"So how do you feel?" Wendy asked, worried. Lucy was quite deathly pale and she was sweating a lot.

"I-I'm fine… a little stage fright." Lucy waved her hand sloppily.

"You weren't even on stage though…" Wendy said softly.

"It's okay… I'll be fine after some water." Lucy mustered up a smile.

"Sure?"

"Sure."

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

"Oi, Wendy? What do you want on your pancakes?" Lucy called from the kitchen. She'd already made a stack of pancakes, which were resting on the table and were 'blowing off some steam'. She had all types of fruits, syrups and spreads were scattered across the bench, waiting to be dumped alongside a vanilla pancake.

"It's okay, I'll fix it up myself." Wendy walked into the dining area and sat on a chair.

Reaching over to grab a pancake and place it on her empty plate. Looking up cheekily, she popped the question she'd been meaning to ask for a while.

"So, Lucy, who are you going out with? Laxus? Sting? Or is it Rouge?" she asked, sweet but innocent.

"What?!" Lucy spat out her milkshake, "NO! Where did you come up with that idea?!" she said, horrified.

"Well, I just think either of them with you could make a good couple." Wendy shrugged, "Besides, you were talking to all of them at the wedding."

"Jeez, you remind me too much of a particular someone right now…" Lucy slumped forward, groaning.

"Oh, hey, that reminds me. I heard Mira was back in town! She's so amazing! Did you know she made a blog about matchmaking and stuff? It's so cool!" Wendy suddenly gushed and Lucy sweat dropped. She really didn't need a mini-Mira right now.

Her phone buzzed and Lucy quickly checked the message.

"Wendy, I've gotta go. You should be fine for an hour or so right? If not, call me. You know my number." Lucy said hurriedly, she scraped her chair back and grabbed her bag. Slamming the door closed, Wendy looked at Lucy's uneaten pancake sullenly. It wasn't like she was five. She could stay at SPARK's agency without making a fuss.

What Wendy didn't know, though, was that, the message Lucy received was no work call.

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

"So, I didn't know it was Blondie you liked." Sting leant back on the couch in Laxus' office and fiddled with the Rubix cube.

"Does that really matter?" Laxus grunted, continuing to fill out some paper work.

"Yeah, well. If you told me sooner, maybe…" Sting trailed off, as if he was unsure to whether or not her should really be speaking.

Laxus' head shot up, "Maybe what?"

"Anyway, how do you even know her? I've never heard of her name from this agency before." Sting continued as if nothing had happened.

"That's non e of your business… and why are you avoiding the question?" Laxus eyed his brother.

"Never mind. I'm going for a walk." Sting sighed and walked out of the room.

It felt like years to Sting before he finally hit the ground floor, the elevator music ringing in his ears as he walked out of the agency. It had been playing a recent hit for a popular T.V show that had recently been released.

In Sting's point of view, the song was good, but one of the voices was all too familiar… just where had he heard it from.

"Whoa." He mumbled as someone bumped into him forcefully. Instead of pausing to apologise, the person kept running, shoving its way through the street.

Blonde hair.

Was that… Lucy?

Sting finally jumped to his sense and started chasing after her like a maniac. Adrenaline rushed through his body as he kept closing the space between them. He had no idea where she was heading, but he'd finally figured out that the person, was, in fact Lucy. Because when she turned the corner, he'd caught a glimpse of her eyes, which were glossed over with tears.

"LUCY!" He skidded to a stop and grabbed her arm, causing her to fall into step with him as well.

She turned to him in surprise, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Blondie, tell me. What's wrong?" he asked breathlessly.

"I'm okay… I'm okay." She gulped, repeating the same sentence, trying to convince herself rather than Sting. Failing, she burst into more tears as Sting pulled her body towards his in a comforting hug.

"Shh… What's wrong?" He stroked her hair and soothed her.

"L-L… She's…" Lucy kept hiccupping.

"L who?" he asked, "L who?"

"Levy." She finally breathed out, her warm breath making the skin under his shirt tingle.

"What's wrong with Levy?" he fought the urge to blush at her actions and be serious for once.

"S-she's in hospital. I've got to go!" she sniffled, snot (unfortunately, but he really didn't care) dripping down his shirt.

"I'll take you there…" he offered, looking into her eye's softly.

She looked hesitant for moments before giving a slight nod of her head.

He wrapped his fingers around Lucy's smaller, softer hand and started walking.

"Magnolia Hospital right?" he checked just to make sure.

A dishevelled Lucy nodded again.

Taking purposeful strides, the two walked there in silence to meet Lucy's best friend.

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

A scarlet haired woman sighed as she set her phone down once again. She'd been meaning to call Lucy to thank her again, but the blonde hadn't picked up.

"Hey Erza." Jellal called to his girlfriend.

"Hey." The said woman walked over and plonked herself down on the couch, sighing.

"Something up?" the blue haired man asked.

"Lucy, she won't pick up her phone."

"Maybe she's sick."

"Possibly." Erza nodded.

The door opened and the rest of the band walked in, chattering about nonsense, Karen leading, but not contributing to the conversation. Just checking her new nail design as per usual.

"Yo!" Natsu stopped talking and greeted the couple on the couch with a small wave.

"Great." Erza put on her strict face and got straight into business, "Are you guys ready for meet and greet?"

"Gihi, when are we never?" Gajeel grinned.

Gray smiled in gesture as 'let's do this', and Natsu did his usual jumpy, fist pump routine. In that moment, Erza hid her worries for her blonde friend. IGNITE didn't need to know. They had to be happy and smile for their fans. Now wasn't the time.

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

The hospital smelt of disgusting cleaning products and walls of off-white exploded in their faces as Lucy and Sting waked through the doors.

Nurses and doctors ran around everywhere and the receptionists were either on the phone or typing furiously away on the computer.

"Excuse me." Sting walked up to the counter, seeing as Lucy seemed unable to speak at that moment due to nervousness.

"One moment." The receptionist mouthed at the two.

They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes before the woman turned back to them.

"How can I help you?" she sent a very noticeable wink towards Sting, and Lucy felt a little flutter of jealousy in her heart.

Sting grimaced slightly and shook the thought of kissing Lucy right then and there just to get the receptionist (way too old for him) to bug off, away.

"I'm looking for Levy McGarden. She was sent here…" Lucy gulped, "early this morning."

Raising an eyebrow at Lucy, the woman turned to her computer and quickly searched up Levy's name.

"Room 237. Ward 1." She said bluntly then flashed a smile to Sting as they politely thanked her and left.

Lucy gripped Stings hand tightly as they slowly, patronizingly walked towards Levy's room.

Pushing open the door slowly, the first thing that Lucy heard was the sound of beeping.

A pale yet lifeless body lay there, chords and wires protruding out of her.

Letting go of Sting, he almost whined at the loss of warmth as Lucy ran toward her best friend.

"W-What happened…?" Sting was almost afraid to ask.

"She had an asthma attack. They called me because Levy doesn't have any family in the area." Lucy looked down sadly, "I haven't spoken to Levy in a long time… it's my fault I wasn't there to call the hospital straight away."

"But who's blaming you? Has anyone come up to you and said 'It's your fault Levy is in hospital'?" Sting asked, furious of how much Lucy belittled herself.

"I-I don't know… but I feel so bad!" Lucy cried even more if it was possible.

* * *

><p>% % % % % % % % % %<p>

A large van pulled up to the premises and immediately, everybody crowded around it.

"KYAAAA! It's IGNITE!" all the screaming girls pushed to the front as a few men stumbled back.

"Hey! Don't push in! We've been lining up for hours!"

"First in, best dressed!" the female population all screamed back at the boys.

There was a loud sound of static coming for the front and Erza stood there, holding up a megaphone.

"Welcome to IGNITE's meet and greet. Please line up in an orderly manner. Shake your idol's hand, ask for an autograph. But that is it! NO PUSHING OR SHOVING THANK YOU!" Erza screamed. All the fans looked at her nervously for a few seconds, but then turned back into love struck fans when the five members of IGNITE walked in and took their seats.

Natsu looked positively excited – his usual goofy grin on his face. He had a new marker in hand. One that was sure to run out in the space of the next few hours. Next to him, Jellal and Gajeel sat back in their chairs, putting on a smiling front for their fans.

Gray took the seat next to Karen – unfortunately. He greeted his fans nicely but was secretly pissed off at the fact Karen wasn't doing her job properly. She spent extra time on particular fans, flirting with them, taking their cell phone numbers… whatever.

The band had grown used to this girl's antics, but they were often annoyed at the fact she never did her job properly. Especially when she technically only did half of the work they did. She had yet to even write a song even though she couldn't sing it. Yes, that was Lucy's job… but it wouldn't hurt once in a while. It proved the fact that she was quite talentless in the music industry.

It would be a realistic dream for her to be fired.

The five continued to shake hands and give out autographs for the next few hours, they received quite a few gifts , mostly handmade chocolates – even though it wasn't anywhere near Valentine's Day.

Back in the limousine, they all feasted on chocolates, while Karen exclaimed that eating the sugary sweet would make her fat. So, instead, Natsu took the opportunity to eat it all.

Erza was busy typing away at her laptop, frowning considerably and the others couldn't help but feel that something was definitely up.

"Hey, Erza… want some strawberry shortcake?" Gray tried.

"Not now." She grumbled. IGNITE sat there in a shocked silence. Did Erza Scarlet, Titania of all Managers. A Manager that everyone wanted – wished for even. Just turn down her all time go-on-a-rampage-if-not-given-any strawberry cake?

"Are… you sure?" Jellal looked at his girlfriend.

"Mhmm." She nodded to emphasize.

"Erza what's wron – "

"OH MY GOD!" Karen screamed, causing them to all wince, "I just broke a NAIL. Quick someone give me my phone. I _need_ to book an appointment."

"Anyway Erza, really, what's bothering you?" Jellal said again, the rest ignoring Karen. Erza was much more important in this moment of time.

"Lucy… she just sent me a message saying she won't be able to work for some time." Erza looked worried.

"Then what about songs?" Natsu suddenly fretted.

"Gihi, of course, there's always my songs." Gajeel smirked.

"Uh… no." Gray immediately shunned the suggestion.

"Tch. No one ever asked you."

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><p><strong>% % % % % % % % % %<br>CHAPTER SEVEN XD**


	8. You're kidding me

**Hey readers… just before you go on any further – I just wanted to tell you that this story will not be a NaLu one. So if you're a NaLu shipper and hoping for that ending, I'm really sorry, the story just really flowed and I realised that with the given chapters, there hadn't been much NaLu at all, so I've narrowed down my choices…**

**Sorry for leading you guys on for so long and then letting you down by saying it's not NaLu…**

**Either way, hope you enjoy this chapter (:**

**P.S- you guys might hate me for this, but in this story, Happy, Lily and Carla are people, and they're slightly OOC … xD**

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"What." Laxus growled into the office phone.

"_Lucy can't work for a while due to personal reasons. So we'll have to take an alternative unless you want to be exposed."_ Erza got straight to the point, speaking monotonously through the line.

"Find a movie or something for them to be in. Don't come runnin' to me." Laxus sighed, where was the blondie anyway? He hadn't seen her since the wedding. (Which was only two days ago, but anyway)

"_Just thought you wanted an update. I'll be leaving now."_ She hung up quickly, leaving a yet again annoyed Laxus listening to the beeping tone of the phone.

Frowning, Laxus picked up his mobile and quickly sent off a text message. She better receive it, or else.

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"Wendy! I'm home." A pair of footsteps walked into the house as Wendy ran to the front door.

"Lucy. You took longer than an hour…"Wendy trailed off at the sight of Lucy's red, puffy eyes.

"Sorry, I ran into someone. Want to go out to the amusement park, or the movies or something?" Lucy mustered up a smile.

"Don't you have work?" Wendy raised an eyebrow, grabbing her shoes and putting them on anyway. Boy, was she quite good at acting…

"Ahh, I'm taking a break for a few days." Lucy waved her hand around carelessly, gesturing that work didn't really matter for the time being.

"Hmmm," Wendy almost pouted, but stopped herself, "How about the movies then? I want to see 'For you, my Love'."

"A romance movie?" Lucy almost shoved Wendy back into house and forced her to watch a few horror and action packed films. Almost.

"Yeah! Unless… you wanted to see something else." Wendy hoped that Lucy would agree. Her cousin needed more romance in her life. And what's a better way to learn than watching a romantic movie itself?

"Jeez, you're way too much like Mira." Lucy grumbled, "Okay, what's it about?" she sighed.

"A girl who's really clumsy, but her life changes when she finally settles on a job. Then she meets a few guys, and they all end up liking her."

Lucy face palmed, "It sounds utterly cheesy and gross and all smooch-y."

"Please!" the young bluenette begged.

"Nope. I've decided. We're going to watch 'When time freezes over'." Lucy placed her hands on her hips.

"No way! 'For you, my Love', or nothing!" Wendy stuck out her tongue.

"You know what." Lucy gave up, "Let's just go to the amusement park."

"Fine." Wendy crossed her arms, slightly upset she couldn't see the movie, but there was a small and unnoticeable smile on her face. She knew something that Lucy didn't…~

"Fine." The oblivious Lucy said.

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"Guys. I've decided. You're all going to do community service." Erza stood up and addressed the band.

"WHAT?! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING." Natsu and Gray jumped up, "That's your ultimate plan?!" they said, incredulous.

"Well, while you guys do that then, I'll be off in Crocus or something." Karen shrugged.

"No, you have to do it too." Erza glared, "We're going straight there after your Radio appearance that was placed ages ago."

Flashback –

"_Hello?"_ Wendy picked up the ringing phone and placed it against her ear.

"Wendy?" Erza asked, if it wasn't Lucy that had picked up, then it had to be the small girl.

"_Yes, she's speaking."_

"It's Erza. From the other day. Lucy said that she couldn't work for a few days… has something happened?"

"_Not that I know of…"_

"That's okay, also. The band has to go on hiatus until Lucy comes back. But they're going to have to do something. You know what in getting at right?"

"_They could go do something in public? I mean, that would mean the fans won't be too sad." _Wendy suggested.

"Thanks, I'll think of something." Erza nodded and they both said their goodbyes.

End –

"What_ kind_ of 'community service'?" Gajeel asked, smirking.

"You'll know, when you get there." Erza smirked, rivalling Gajeel's.

The five sitting there shivered, Erza smirking, meant something that they absolutely DO NOT want to do.

IGNITE walked cautiously towards the small van in front of them. It was to make sure that they wouldn't draw attention… but big white vans… they were quite a suspicious vehicle to travel in anyway.

They all huddled into the selected transport, sitting shoulder to shoulder in the tight space. They all grumbled, trying to shove one another for the sake of 'personal space'.

"Where ever we're going, it's going to be somewhere we'll regret." Gray huffed, recalling all his moments in his childhood when Erza used to drag him to unreasonable places.

"Doesn't sound bad as long as no one recognises us… Gihi." Gajeel shrugged.

Jellal kept silent, choosing not to voice his opinion in the wrath of his girlfriend.

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"Hello, this is Happy, Carla and Panther Lily on 101.3 Edolas Exceeds." Carla, one of the radio hosts spoke into her mic.

"Aye sir!" Happy fish pumped, a random piece of raw fish in his hand.

"We have our guests here – IGNITE for our special interview." Lily said seriously, his headphones hung loosely around his neck while everyone had theirs on.

"Yo-ho! Natsu here!" the salmon haired singer spoke.

Everyone else said their greetings and they moved on to the interview.

"So, Karen, what's it like, being the only girl in IGNITE?" Carla asked.

"Hmm, I can't say it's a bad thing. I mean like, one of them will like me in the end. I'm just fabulous like that." She flung her hands in the air, although no one else outside of the studio could see it.

There was a pregnant silence as everyone stared at her, sweat dropping. Lily gave an awkward cough as Happy nodded.

"A-Aye… moving on. What's your favourite fish?" The blue haired host nibbled on his own fillet as the other everyone else stared slightly in disgust.

"You know what… how about we get IGNITE to play us a song, and you fans out there can call in and ask your own questions? Remember, that's 16-xx-xx. Call in with your questions." Lily cut in, saving everyone from the potentially disastrous interview.

"Uh…. Karen can't sing today though! She has something to attend to later on and has to rest her vocal chords. So we, uh, will be on hiatus for a short amount of time." Gray quickly added, earning a nod from Erza and a slightly annoyed look from Karen. She could _totally_ sing, but it wasn't like she could now that Gray had gone and said that.

The band stood up and walked over to the small area set up with microphones and instruments.

"This song," Natsu spoke into the microphone, "is a special one for you guys out there because of our hiatus. It hasn't yet been released, but will be coming out on our new album. The song is called 'You'."

Immediately after saying that, Gajeel let the beat drop on the drums, Jellal following after him, his fingers flying across the strings of the bass. Gray was playing notes rapidly, but at a fluid pace.

The intro to the song finally pieced together as Natsu played his first notes on the guitar, leaning towards the microphone in front of him.

_You, say, you're out of your mind,  
>And it's k-k-k-killing me, you've beaten me,<br>Down, to the ground,  
>You're killing me, k-killing me,<em>

_But I'll be back,  
>One more time,<br>Don't hesitate, to hide yourself,_

_Because I'll always find you,  
>Again, and again, and again…<em>

_This isn't goodbye,  
>It's not over yet,<br>I still have this song for you,  
>Just look me in the eye,<br>This is a promise,  
>I have no regrets,<br>Who said I'm leaving you…_

_No joke, this isn't April fools,  
>Behind that ego, you're just uncool,<br>Now you're k-killing me, once again_

_But I'll be back,  
>One more time,<br>Don't hesitate, to run away,_

_Because I will always go after you,  
>Again, and again, and again…<em>

Everyone paused as Natsu rammed through his guitar solo, the sound bleeding as it blasted though the amplifier, making the ground buzz with vibrations. As the solo began to slow down again, Natsu took another breath and started singing again.

_This isn't goodbye,  
>It's not over yet,<br>I still have this song for you,  
>Just look me in the eye,<br>This is a promise,  
>I have no regrets,<br>Who said I'm leaving you…_

_This isn't goodbye,  
>It's not over yet,<br>I still have this song for you,  
>Just look me in the eye,<br>This is a promise,  
>I have no regrets,<br>Who said I'm leaving you…_

_Who said I'm leaving you…_

_You're killing me,_

_Who said I'm leaving you…_

The studio erupted into a cheer as the band hi-fived each other, Natsu breathing heavily. Damn he'd pretty much performed like he would at a concert.

"I think we just caught a rare glimpse of the old boy band, IGNITE!" Lily spoke clapping.

"Now, tell me, who is this song _really_ dedicated to?" Carla put emphasis on her words.

"Aye! Do you liiiiiiiike someone perhaps, Natsu?" Happy laughed as Carla reached over and promptly shoved a fish in his mouth to shut him up.

Happy blushed a little, think that she gave to him as a gift. Well, at least no one noticed.

"Ah… no one really." Natsu scratched the back of his head.

"Let's not keep our callers waiting then shall we?" Lily fiddled with a few buttons on the control pad and there was a buzzing sound before a voice spoke.

"_Hello?"_

"HEY!" Natsu greeted back loudly.

"_Oh my gosh! It's Natsu!" _there were squeals on the other line and the feedback went through the system and through to everyone's head phones. Everyone hissed and chucked them off, quickly hanging up on the overly obsessed – and loud fans.

"Never mind…" Carla rubbed her temples.

"It's time to play… 'Truth, dare, double dare, torture, kiss or hug'." The blue haired host spoke dramatically.

IGNITE's eye's widened, everyone recalling what had happened last time in the studio.

"Hell no!" Everyone one screamed at the 'sadistic' radio host.

"What? They get the top views on our website…" Happy made kissy faces towards Natsu and Gray, who both turned green and ran as far away from each other as they could.

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"Which ride?" Wendy asked, she decided to let Lucy pick, since the blonde seemed so down.

"The Haunted House."

"NO!" the bluenette immediately denied.

"Fine." Lucy drawled out, "the Ghost Train."

"WHAT?!" Wendy almost screeched, "That's even worse! You're locked into a carriage, and you can't see any emergency exits… unless there's actually an EMERGENCY!"

"Jeez. We'll go on that then." Lucy pointed to a large building. Inside was a roller coaster where you'd travel through 'portals' and have an 'adventure'. It wasn't a ride in the 'horror' category either.

"Good." Wendy nodded and dragged Lucy towards the ride.

The line was quite short, since the ride had been there since the amusement park had first opened and people wanted to ride the newer ones.

The immediately took the last seats on the carriage and they set off on a journey.

The two laughed as they exited the ride, not watching where they were going.

"Lucy?" a muffled voice spoke.

"Huh?" the blonde looked up at the giant Mickey Mouse in front of her.

"Rouge!" Wendy ran up and hugged the man in the suit.

"Rouge?" Lucy voiced in amusement, "You work here?"

"O-only as part time." Rouge pulled the head off the stuffy suit, giving him a small head poking out of a fat mouse body.

Lucy couldn't help but laugh, her face glowing as Rouge blushed. He hadn't taken Lucy as the type to venture out to the Amusement park from her shy stature. But he guessed that had changed long ago, before Grandine's wedding.

"It's nice seeing you hey? But Wendy and I want to go on the other rides. Call me 'kay? We should catch up, you pick the date!" Lucy waved shyly as Wendy tugged on her other arm.

"A… date?" Rouge muttered to himself, eyes wide.

Further along, Wendy giggled.

"I _told_ you, he likes you! Or you like him… but! Either way!" she expressing, smiling slyly up at the busty blonde.

"W-what?! No! We're friends!"

"Mhmm… sure." Wendy winked and pulled her towards the café.

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A week had passed since the day at the park and Wendy had gone back home with Mest and Grandine. Lucy missed the small girl slightly, having gotten used to her staying over. Rouge didn't call either… but that's when she remembered she'd gotten a new number just after the wedding. Oops.

But she didn't feel sad today. The hospital had called her and asked for Levy to be signed out today. Lucy was the closest to her and also to only person available that Levy knew that could legally sign her out.

Juvia was away on a business trip and Cana was probably at home with a throbbing hangover.

Lucy picked up her keys and walked out of the door, locking it behind her.

She rushed over to the mall and looked around for a while, trying to find the perfect gift for Levy's recovery.

And then she spotted it. It was a light blue fountain pen, extremely delicate and calling out to her.

She purchased it, along with a box the place it in.

Running back out onto the street, she made her towards the hospital, humming as she went along.

She was interrupted by a buzzing sound coming from her pocket. Fishing it out of her worn jeans, she checked the caller ID. It was from Juvia, with surprised Lucy. Since the said girl was away for business, it was unusual for her to call.

"Hey Juvia, what's up?" Lucy spoke into the phone, cupping it closer to her face, trying to block out the sound of the busy street.

"_Lucy! Are you okay?! Juvia is worried about you! I'm in your hometown and heard some gossip!"_ her bluenette friend spoke frantically into the phone.

"Wha – " Lucy cut herself off when a beeping sound came from her phone, "Hang on, Cana's calling me, I'll put you on hold for a sec."

She switched lines as she turned onto a quieter street and held the phone by her ear again.

"Yo, Cana… how are you?"

"_Lucy! I just heard the news… You know the more important question should be how are you holding up?" _Cana said, worried.

"Huh? What do you mean… I'm just going to pick up Levy from the hospital, she's finally getting let out today." Lucy grinned, patting her bag with Levy's gift inside reassuringly.

"_No seriously, don't act all tough on me, I know your relationsh – "_ Cana's voice faded away when there was a tap on Lucy's shoulder. She jumped up and turned to face the person, dropping her phone in the meantime, _"Hello? LUCY! Are you still there?" _Cana screamed into the phone, hearing a crackling noise on the other side. But the brunette's voice remained unheard.

"Gildarts!" Lucy exclaimed at the police officer, "You know, I was just talking to Cana on the phone and she's acting pretty weird. I mean, you guys live together, you're her dad after all, happen to know what's up?"

The said man placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder grimly.

"Lucy…" he trailed off into silence, "You know, you walk really fast, I called your name out six times. And you didn't pick up your cell phone!"

"Uh, sorry," Lucy said sheepishly, "I was on the phone with Juvia and Cana."

"I've been looking for you for about two hours now!"

"Really? Why?" Lucy suddenly felt suspicious, what was Gildarts hiding from her?

"Lucy," he said gravely, "You father… he passed away yesterday." He sighed inwardly, knowing what was going to happen. It was Lucy. He'd known her for years now. And every time something like this happened to her, it always ended in… DENIAL.

Lucy burst out laughing, "You're kidding me right?" she wiped a tear from her eye, "I mean, he wasn't sick or anything, he never_ told_ me about anything, but then again, we haven't spoken in like what? Four years now?" To her it seemed unreal, all a big fat lie.

"Lucy… This is the real deal. You are the only blood related family he has left."

Lucy's tears turned into sobs of pain as she crumpled onto the empty side walk. It was true, Mest was from Layla's side of the family, making her the last Heartfillia.

So that's what it was… denial, then acceptance and pain. Sometime Lucy gave in too easily. She forgave too easily… and she was alone too often.

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	9. Chapter 9

***PLEASE READ***

**This is Dreamer852's sister. She can't update her stories anymore. **

**She worked hard to get the next chapter of her stories out, always telling me her friends are waiting, so I'll post the most recent unfinished chapter. **

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"Welcome, today as Miss Lucy Heartfillia honours the memory of Jude Heartfillia. He is the beloved husband, father, son and friend of all gathered here." The pastor droned softly, and sentimentally.

There were a few sniffles in the crowd as Lucy stood beside the pastor, up on the podium. She was visibly shaking, and her cardigan sleeves were wet with tears. She was, for once, dressed presentably, donned in a simple black dress and kitten heels, along with a thing black cardigan.

Behind her, lay Jude. He looked extremely serene and peaceful, dressed in a nice suit and his fingers intertwined at his stomach. Wreaths of flowers and small gifts lay against his coffin, looking wilted at the loss, yet so fresh at the same time.

The pastor finished his speech and a few passages from the bible, as he gestured for Lucy to step up and give a few words.

"Jude Heartfillia… a loving, caring man deep inside.

_She cried herself to sleep  
>For the eight hundredth time,<br>She wasn't daddy's little girl  
>But she was always there to try,<br>And her life went on and on just to please the man,_

_If only he, hadn't turned a blind eye._

_She was young, at the age of six,  
>When she found the bottles, lying all over the floor,<br>She knew that daddy loved her, no matter what he said,  
>But, still he walked away,<br>So, she held it all in,_

_Come back, come back,  
>She's been waiting for you,<br>Come back, come back,  
>To your daughter,<br>She's been fighting forever,  
>And yet her daddy turned to leave,<br>Come back, come back,  
>To me<em>

_This was no home, it was just some kind of house,  
>She'd lie in bed, always thinking about life,<br>All the days, she wished to turn back time,  
>To fix all the mistakes, she never even meant,<br>But then again, she shouldn't be the only one apologizing,_

_Come back, come back,  
>She's been waiting for you,<br>Come back, come back,  
>To your daughter,<br>She's been fighting forever,  
>And yet her daddy turned to leave,<br>Come back, come back,  
>To me<em>

_She learnt to keep to herself,  
>Never spoke unless asked,<br>Bottled up her empty hole,  
>But this is something that all in the past,<em>

_Forget it,_

_Come back, come back,  
>She's been waiting for you,<br>Come back, come back,  
>To your daughter,<br>She's been fighting forever,  
>And yet her daddy turned to leave,<em>

_Come back, come back,  
>She's always been there, waiting for you,<br>Come back, come back,  
>To your daughter,<br>She's been fighting, all alone,  
>Come back, come back,<br>She's so sorry,  
>Come back, come back… come back,<br>To me_


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